It's your stated positions that are incongruous, and you're obviously having trouble with the definition of "exception."
Originally Posted by I B Hankering
My stated positions are not incongruous and I have no trouble with the definition of exception, although you apparently do.
The circumstances under which the Miranda warning must be given are well defined by the Supreme Court, including the public safety exception - when it doesn't have to be given. So, if there is still a reasonable danger that these guys hid some unexploded bombs in the Boston area, the Supreme Court has said it is OK to ask them questions related ONLY to the bombs - such as "Do you have any more bombs hidden anywhere? How are they disarmed?"
And, if the police DO ask those questions and the surviving bomber answers, rather than asking for a lawyer, then his statements about where the bombs are may be used against him.
That is how due process is defined in these unusual circumstances.
If you have a problem with that, then it is the Supreme Court that is incongruous, not me.
Ultimately, there won't even be a question about due process if the police never use his statements against him. There is a mountain of evidence already available to convict him, including video tapes and - I would imagine DNA and/or fingerprints on unexploded bombs and weapons and possibly even on parts of detonated bombs.
The bomber could tell the cops where an unexploded booby-trapped bomb is and the police might never use the statement against him in court.
Due process rights are not violated in the abstract. The prosecutors have to try to introduce the statement in court, the bomber's lawyer has to object and then the prosecutors have to invoke and prove the public safety exception so the judge can rule it admissible (or not).
If the prosecutors never even try to use it, then no harm, no foul. This becomes an entirely hypothetical discussion.