When I was arrested back in my youth days, I went through the process of fingerprinting, pictures and all that crap. I finally got to go see the commissioner to set my bond and while in there he was asking me questions like, “so, why did you do this?” and “what made you think you would get away with this?”
I didn’t give him any incriminating answers and I beat around the bush with what he was asking, but can what I tell him be held against me in court? I know it can when talking to the police, but how far do the Miranda rights go?
He’s a junior judge, a temp. Generally some lawyer that wants to be a judge or work for the DA. However, it depends on the location/state.
After you are read your rights, you say only two things to anyone “I want to speak to my/an attorney. 2 Am I free to go?”. I would not be speaking to a commisioner without my lawyer present in the first place,and in that case, the lawyer would be doing the talking.
It varies by state, but in many jurisdictions, Court Commissioners are judicial officers with limited powers, though still having many powers of a regularly appointed judge. They are appointed to oversee many of the functions of the courts, usually the more routine ones.
In the federal court system, a similar position is held by Magistrate Judges, who are appointed by the appeals courts for limited terms, unlike regular District Judges, who are appointed for life by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Magistrate Judges will do arraignments and bail hearings, misdemeanor trials, supervise discovery in civil trials, do certain things referred by District Judges and preside over full trials on the consent of the parties.
What you say before any judicial officer can be used against you later. If it was a bail hearing, it is likely that it was recorded, either by a stenographer or a tape recording, and as a judicial admission against interest, would likely be more easily usable than a statement to police.
I figured as much. Because when I went before him I was in a little room sitting in front of a big television and a camera and he was on the television too, but was about 2 miles away in another building.
I was wondering why he was asking me all this stuff about the crime. I couldn’t figure out if he was trying to get a confession or if he was trying to figure out how much to set for my bail. Just thought it was weird and didn’t know what to do. I basically said that I didn’t know what he was talking about and that I was ignorant of everything. haha