MIRANDA’S VICTIM FOCUSES ON THE WOMAN RAPED BY MIRANDA
A lawyer for Ernesto Miranda (Sebastian Quinn) successfully argued that his kidnapping and rape confession was coerced because he was denied an attorney before and during interrogation. The case was the most prominent of four similar cases that were reviewed in which the U.S. Supreme Court during 1966 established the “Miranda right” by a 5-4 vote. Police interrogators now must inform anyone being questioned that they have the right to an attorney as well a right to silence, and police must inform anyone questioned to ensure that the rights are understood. The immediate impact of the case Miranda v Arizona was to reverse his conviction, whereupon Arizona decided to retry the case without information derived during interrogation.
Miranda’s Victim, directed by Michelle Danner, focuses on Patricia (“Trish”) Weir, who experiences the kidnapping and rape in 1993 at age 18 and is psychologically devastated. Although her older sister Ann (Emily VanCamp) evidently wants to press the case to the police, her mother is skeptical that the criminal justice system will provide justice. Nevertheless, a trial is held in 1963, and 24-year-old Miranda is convicted largely due to his confession. However, in 1964 the U.S. Supreme Court in Escopedo v Illinois ruled that such confessions are inadmissible, so the verdict is appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court, which reaffirms Miranda’s conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1966 throws out the guilty verdict trial and remands the case back to Arizona, which decides on a re-trial during 1967, though in a different county. Throughout the legal proceedings, the victim is portrayed as forced to re-experience the trauma, though at no point in the film does she express ironclad determination to press her case in court. Titles at the end provide information on some of the lawyers involved and offer statistics to demonstrate that few rape cases ever result in justice for the victim. An appeal at the end encourages filmviewers to support the cause of rape victims. The Political Film Society has nominated Miranda’s Victim as best film on human rights of 2023. MH