You ask for a solicitor (no funny wig). The solicitor then briefs a barrister (funny wig) who represents you in court (if it gets that far).

Really? That seems convoluted! Why?

Paper I read made the case with the supreme court sound way more gray area--that they'd started to read the guy his rights, and he stopped them , and so then they asked if he had guns, and he said yes. (or something along those lines). And then he said because they stopped reading the rights when he stopped them, he wasn't properly mirandized. Ew. (Of course, at this point, who the hell DOESN"T know their Miranda rights?? Not that that's an excuse for cops to be evil, but...)

What if your solicitor is a transvestite? Then does he get to wear a funny wig?

Really? That seems convoluted! Why?

It is convoluted, but it's Her Majesty's law! (Which Australia has also inherited.) There probably is a reason for it somewhere in the dim past.

at this point, who the hell DOESN"T know their Miranda rights??

I think the idea is, in this country at least, it can be so intimidating to be in a police station that people automatically start going "Yes, sir", even when they know that's not in their own best interest. In some states -- I don't know, maybe all of them -- when you're Mirandized, you're required to sign a form specifically waiving those rights before they'll interview you, just to make it 100% clear that you did know those rights, and everyone was on the same table, and if you talked after that you deserved all of the stupid you'd brought upon yourself.

Would Buffy have to be blonde?

Yes. The entire premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was to have the stereotypical "ditzy blonde victim" of the past, turn out to be the hero.

"You have the right to remains silent, but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention anything you later rely on in court."

Allowing for the fact that I only know this from watching The Bill -- though not as much as I used to, since they ditched the original premise and turned it into Days of Our Old Bill -- I thought the line was: "You have the right to remain silent but it may harm your defence if during questioning you fail to mention something you later rely on in court."

I notice the UK version of Miranda doesn't even mention asking for a legal representative...

Jim didn't give the full spiel. However, they do inform you of your right to have a "brief" when you're being booked in at the station.

Yeah, let me just remind myself to not get arrested in a foriegn country where I don't know my rights. Eek. (Not that I do want to get arrested in America either, but...) cause...

However, they do inform you of your right to have a "brief" when you're being booked in at the station

I'd be all "Um, brief what? Brief smoke? Pair of briefs? Legal brief, pick one off the shelf?" (And how weird does brief look when typed more than once? Very weird!)

Yeah, let me just remind myself to not get arrested in a foriegn country where I don't know my rights. Eek.

meara, unless things have really improved? The one to avoid is Switzerland. They can toss you in a cell, give you no contact, keep you there for 72 hours, and escort you to the border. And they aren't obliged by their own law to tell you why.

This actually happened to a friend of mine, a high-visibility lawyer, back in the early eighties. Turned out to be her last name: she was married to someone with the same last name as the old royal family of Yugoslavia, and several of them had been banned from Switzerland. Barbara didn't find this out until she'd been escorted to the French border and told never to come back. Weirdness....

meara ... "brief" is UK-TV slang for a solicitor.

Darn. I liked the idea of the prisoner demanding a quickie with the bobby of her choice.

Yeah, let me just remind myself to not get arrested in a foriegn country where I don't know my rights. Eek. (Not that I do want to get arrested in America either, but...) cause...

We're not a fun country to get arrested in as a foreign national, either. :(

I think the English promise to use what you don't say against you is also permitted in American trials, but I'm not sure. You can't use the fact that someone asked for an attorney, but if during questioning the suspect didn't mention the alibi he came up with for trial? That's probative.