Who was Miranda?

Ernesto Miranda, an eighth-grade dropout with a criminal record, was sentenced to 20 years in prison following his 1963 confession in a kidnapping and rape case in Phoenix.

On appeal, the Supreme Court ruled in 1966 that the confession was inadmissible because it was obtained without consultation with an attorney and without Miranda having been advised of his right to silence.

The case was retried and while prosecutors could not use Miranda's confession, they obtained a new conviction based on other evidence. Ernesto Miranda served 11 years in prison before his parole in 1972. He was arrested and returned to prison several times after.

Miranda died in 1976 at age 34.