U.S. Supreme Court  Can silence before arrest be used against
defendant? Supreme Court to decide  The U.S. Supreme Court has
agreed to decide whether a defendant who refused to answer an
officer’s question before a formal arrest can have his silence
used against him at trial.  The case is Salinas v. Texas, report
the New York Times and the Washington Post. The cert petition
(PDF) by Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher argues that the
Fifth Amendment’s right against self-incrimination protects a
defendant’s pre-arrest silence. State and federal courts are
“openly and intractably divided” on the issue, according to the
petition.  The case is an appeal by Genovevo Salinas, identified
as one of the people who attended a party hosted by two brothers
the night before their murders. Salinas accompanied officers to
the police station and answered their questions until he was
asked whether a shotgun turned in by Salinas’ father would match
shells at the murder scene. Salinas did not answer.  “When law
enforcement ag