Originally Posted by
CB HI
I have not had time to look up the case law yet:
You must tell the police 'you choose not to answer any question' or 'choose to remain silent'.
It has never been required to invoke your right to a lawyer for asserting your right to remain silent.
Cops can SAY anything they want but they understand that the smart people both invoke their right to remain silent and right to a lawyer.
You're looking for Berghuis v. Thompkins, No. 08-1470. From Sotomayor's first dissenting opinion:
A suspect who wishes to guard his right to remain silent, must, counterintuitively, speak.
That odd decision, yet another 5-4 abomination, was decided in 2010. Prior to that, it was assumed that one could invoke one's right to remain silent by, surprise, remaining silent and that the cops would have to stop interrogating a non-responsive suspect rather than merely wearing him/her down.