Wainwright v. Greenfield

Respondent entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of sexual battery. At his trial in the Circuit Court for Sarasota County, Florida, the prosecutor argued that respondent’s silence after receiving Miranda warnings was evidence of his sanity. The question presented is whether such use of a defendant’s silence violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as construed in Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U. S. 610 (1976).

*286HH

The battery occurred in woods near a beach in the vicinity of Sarasota, Florida. After respondent released his victim, she drove directly to the police…