Can a State Supreme Court weaken the Miranda rule?

Florida Supreme Court weakens police's Miranda warning requirements

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Police don't need to explicitly tell suspects they can have a lawyer with them during questioning under the Florida as well as U.S. constitutions as long as they get the message across in a reasonably understandable way, a divided Florida Supreme Court said in a pair of opinions Thursday.

The decisions weaken requirements for what are called Miranda warnings to suspects that notify them of their rights to remain silent and to have a lawyer.

They follow rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court in both cases. One affirmed Kevin Dwayne Powell's Tampa conviction in 2004 for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The other upheld the convictions and a death sentence of former male model Thomas Rigterink for the fatal stabbings in 2003 of two people in Bartow.

The federal justices upheld the warning Powell had received as being sufficient under the U.S. Constitution to let him know he could have a lawyer during questioning although it didn't specifically say so.



http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/os-miranda-warning-florida-20110617,0,7227488.story

The issue in the case seems to have been whether the Florida Constitution grants broader protections than the federal, which is an issue of state law.