Rights under custodial investigations, Bill of Rights

1. Concept

Miranda rights. The guarantees of Sec. 12 (1), Art. III of the 1987 Constitution, or the so-called Miranda rights, may be invoked only by a person while he is under custodial investigation. (People v. Amestuzo, G.R. No. 104383, 12 July 2001)

Custodial investigation. Custodial investigation – involves any questioning initiated by law enforcement authorities after a person is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant manner. (People v. Tan, G.R. No. 117321, 11 February 1998)

 [Custodial investigation] – refers to the critical pre-trial stage when the investigation ceases to be a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but has begun to focus on a particular person as a suspect. (People v. Rapeza, G.R. No. 169431, 03 April 2007)

[Custodial investigation]– shall include the practice of issuing an “invitation” to a person who is investigated in connection with an offense he is suspected to have committed, without prejudice to the liability of the “inviting” officer for any violation of law. (Last paragraph, Section 2, R.A. 7438)

a. When it starts

Custodial investigation starts when the police investigation is no longer a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but has begun to focus on a particular suspect taken into custody by the police who starts the interrogation and propounds questions to the person to elicit incriminating statements. (People v. Amestuzo, supra.)

1) Focus on a particular suspect who...