Smith v. Illinois

Shortly after his arrest in connection with a robbery, the 18-year-old defendant was taken to an interrogation room for questioning by two officers. When the officers informed him that he had a right to his counsel’s presence at the interrogation, the accused responded “Uh, yeah. I’d like to do that.” Despite this response, the officers continued with their questioning, and when they subsequently asked the accused whether he wished to talk to them without a lawyer being present, the accused responded “Yeah and no, uh, I don’t know what’s what, really,” and “All right. I’ll talk to you then.” The defendant then told the officers that he knew in advance about the planned robbery but claimed that he was not a participant. After considerable probing, the defendant confessed, before he reasserted his earlier story that he only knew about the planned crime. Upon further questioning, the defendant again requested a lawyer saying “I wanta get a lawyer.” This time the officers honored the request and terminated the interrogation.