Fla. justices weaken Miranda warning requirements

Police don't need to explicitly tell suspects they can have a lawyer with them during questioning under the Florida as well as U.S. constitutions as long as they get the message across in a reasonably understandable way, a divided state Supreme Court said in a pair of opinions Thursday.

The decisions weaken requirements for what are called Miranda warnings to suspects that notify them of their rights to remain silent and to have a lawyer.

They follow rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court in both cases. One affirmed Kevin Dwayne Powell's Tampa conviction in 2004 for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The other upheld the convictions and a death sentence of former male model Thomas Rigterink for the fatal stabbings in 2003 of two people in Bartow.