Home/Wyoming Supreme Court/Irvin v. State

Irvin v. State

560 P.2d 372, 1977 Wyo. LEXIS 231
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 17, 1977
Docket4562
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 560 P.2d 372 (Irvin v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Irvin v. State, 560 P.2d 372, 1977 Wyo. LEXIS 231 (Wyo. 1977).

Opinions

RAPER, Justice.

During cross-examination of the defendant, the county and prosecuting attorney asked the defendant why he had not told the police about his alibi which he brought out for the first time in his defense. In closing argument the county attorney dwelt at length on the failure of the defendant to inform the police of his alibi, implying fabrication. After being given the Miranda warning following arrest, the defendant had elected to remain silent.

The tactic of the prosecutor is in violation of § 11, Article I, Wyoming Constitution, providing that “No person shall be compelled to testify against himself in any criminal case, * * *Under Amendment V to the United States. Constitution, a parallel provision to that of Wyoming, providing that no person shall be “ * * * compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, * * * ” the United States Supreme Court in Doyle v. Ohio, 1976, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91, under a similar set of facts, stated that implicit in the Miranda warning is the assurance that silence will carry no penalty and held that use for impeachment purposes of defendant’s silence, at time of arrest, after Miranda warnings violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We are compelled to agree.

Reversed and remanded for new trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
560 P.2d 372, 1977 Wyo. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/irvin-v-state-wyo-1977.