178
Breyer, J., dissenting
of right to presence of counsel is assumed invalid unless accused initiates communication); Maine v. Moulton, 474 U. S. 159, 176 (1985) (Sixth Amendment gives defendant right "to rely on counsel as a 'medium' between him and the State"). Cf. ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2 (2001) (lawyer is generally prohibited from communicating with a person known to be represented by counsel "about the subject of the representation" without counsel's "consent"); Green, A Prosecutor's Communications with Defendants: What Are the Limits?, 24 Crim. L. Bull. 283, 284, and n. 5 (1988) (version of Model Rule 4.2 or its predecessor has been adopted by all 50 States).
Fourth, the particular aspect of the right here at issue— the rule that the police ordinarily must communicate with the defendant through counsel—has important limits. In particular, recognizing the need for law enforcement officials to investigate "new or additional crimes" not the subject of current proceedings, Maine v. Moulton, supra, at 179, this Court has made clear that the right to counsel does not attach to any and every crime that an accused may commit or have committed, see McNeil v. Wisconsin, 501 U. S. 171, 175-176 (1991). The right "cannot be invoked once for all future prosecutions," and it does not forbid "interrogation unrelated to the charge." Id., at 175, 178. In a word, as this Court previously noted, the right is "offense specific." Id., at 175.
This case focuses upon the last-mentioned principle, in particular upon the meaning of the words "offense specific." These words appear in this Court's Sixth Amendment case law, not in the Sixth Amendment's text. See U. S. Const., Amdt. 6 (guaranteeing right to counsel "[i]n all criminal prosecutions"). The definition of these words is not self-evident. Sometimes the term "offense" may refer to words that are written in a criminal statute; sometimes it may refer generally to a course of conduct in the world, aspects of which constitute the elements of one or more crimes; and
Page: Index Previous 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007