Can anything you say to the cop BEFORE being arrested/charged be used against you in court?

I am in Ontario, Canada.

You betcha!

Then why do they read your rights of "anything you say can and will be used against you..." after being charged? Not before?

I just read this on another forum:

"The ONLY issue with miranda is when the results of the questions will be used as evidence at trial. without waiving miranda and without the warning being given, the police can question anyone for anything for any amount of time but the answers are inadmissible as evidence under law."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jackinthebox98

I just read this on another forum:

"The ONLY issue with miranda is when the results of the questions will be used as evidence at trial. without waiving miranda and without the warning being given, the police can question anyone for anything for any amount of time but the answers are inadmissible as evidence under law."

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Ahha... people can be subpoenaed into court to give the answers under oath.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jackinthebox98

Then why do they read your rights of "anything you say can and will be used against you..." after being charged? Not before?

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Hello jack:

Miranda is American law. Canada doesn't have it.

excon

Also anything you say before you are a suapect can be used against you. Also they can not ask you any questions, if you say something or yell something out, it still can be used.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jackinthebox98

I just read this on another forum:

"The ONLY issue with miranda is when the results of the questions will be used as evidence at trial. without waiving miranda and without the warning being given, the police can question anyone for anything for any amount of time but the answers are inadmissible as evidence under law."

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If the answers are due to a custodial interogation, meeting some rather strict rules depending on what your jurisdiction is, then yes they can be excluded (in the US) if miranda was not given. However, there are many times when Miranda is not required to be given and the answers can be used against you. Example: you are walking down the street and the police say: "hey what are you doing?" and you answer: " going to kill my wife" --If she ends up dead, do you imagine that is not going to be used against you?

The issue of evidence leads to a very complex analysis of hearsay and other evidence law rules... too complex to explain here.