California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Valdivia, 180 Cal.App.3d 657, 226 Cal.Rptr. 144 (Cal. App. 1986):
Valdivia next complains the advising officer impermissibly weakened the required warning that anything he said could and would be used against him, by adding the words "if we can" and "just in case we are able to use it." Defense counsel argues, "it would seem apparent that [Valdivia] was being told that there was some sort of condition subsequent to the use of [his] statements. Such a suggestion was misleading at best." Again, we cannot agree. The officer was literally stating the truth: Some statements will be permitted in evidence, others not. But, more to the point, the warning was couched in sufficient certainty to suit its purpose, i.e., to warn Valdivia that his words could be used against him in court: "... Miranda itself indicated that no talismanic incantation was required to satisfy its strictures. The court in that case stated that '[t]he warnings required and the waiver necessary in accordance with our opinion today are, in the absence of a fully effective equivalent, prerequisites to the admissibility of any statement made by a defendant.' [Citations.]" (California v. Prysock, supra, 453 U.S. 355, 359-360, 101 S.Ct. 2806, 2809, emphasis supplied by the court.)
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