Genovevo Salinas Case Study

On the morning of December 18, 1992, two brothers were shot and killed in their home in Houston Texas. Police recovered six shotgun shell casings at the home and their investigation led them to defendant Genovevo Salinas who agreed to hand over his weapon for ballistics testing and to go to the police station for questioning. The interview lasted for about one hour, and both parties agree it was noncustodial therefore he was not read his Miranda warning. Salinas answered most of the officer’s questions during the interview, but fell silent and his body tensed up when asked if the shotgun would match the shells recovered at the murder scene. After a few minutes of silence, the officer continued to ask more questions, which he did answer. Salinas did not testify at his own trial and, even with his objection, the prosecution used his silence in response to the officer’s question as evidence that he was guilty.

Salinas was eventually convicted of murder and both the Texas State Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with the verdict. They did however ignore his claim ...