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A.Word.A.Day--mirandize

Mirandize (muh-RAN-dyz) verb tr.

To advise (a person under arrest) of his or her legal rights, such as the right to remain silent under questioning, right to legal counsel, etc.

[After Ernesto A. Miranda (1941-1976).]

To Mirandize is to read someone his or her Miranda Rights or give that person a Miranda warning.

Ernesto A. Miranda's conviction was thrown out by the US Supreme Court in 1966 after the Court, in the case Miranda v. Arizona, determined that he had confessed without having been told of his right to remain silent under questioning. The landmark ruling upheld the right against self-incrimination as guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

Miranda's story has an ironical ending. He was later stabbed to death. Police arrested a suspect who chose to remain silent after having been read his Miranda rights. No one was ever convicted.

"(Attorneys) worked to prove that detectives weren't required to Mirandize or inform (Kobe) Bryant of the warrants or the surreptitious recording because the law enforcement personnel never formally took Bryant into custody." Marcia C. Smith; Bryant Defense Targets Early Actions by Police; San Jose Mercury News (California); Feb 4, 2004.

"Says Lawrence Korb, a former Reagan Assistant Defense Secretary: `We train them (soldiers) to vaporize, not Mirandize.'" Matthew Miller; Nation/Campaign '96; Time (New York); Mar 4, 1996.

This week's theme: eponyms.

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