MBE Rules · Criminal Procedure
Massiah — 6A right vs 5A Miranda
Massiah / Brewer v. Williams
The rule
After the 6A right to counsel has attached (formal charges), the government may not deliberately elicit incriminating statements from the accused in the absence of counsel, whether or not the setting is 'custodial interrogation.' Unlike Miranda (5A), Massiah applies to undercover informants and non-custodial encounters, but is offense-specific.
In plain English
Miranda protects against coercion during custody; Massiah protects the charged defendant's relationship with counsel. A jailhouse snitch questioning an indicted defendant violates Massiah even without custody or interrogation in the Miranda sense.
The trap
Applying Miranda analysis (custody + interrogation) to a post-charge informant scenario — it's a Massiah problem, not a Miranda one.
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