es, authorities felt that the people of California would be better off without Ernest Miranda and deported the 18-year-old back to Arizona. With an already lengthy criminal record, few job skills and no family support, Miranda did the only legitimate thing he could do in the face of such hardship – he joined the Army. Unfortunately, a second geographic cure, with the help of Uncle Sam, didn't change Ernest Miranda. His service record lists AWOL and voyeurism charges and Miranda spent six months in the Fort Campbell, Kentucky stockade at hard labor. After 15 months in the service, during which time he was ordered to consult a psychiatrist but only went to one session, Miranda was dishonorably discharged.
             He drifted around the south for a few months, spending time in jail in Texas for vagrancy, and was arrested in Nashville driving a stolen car. Because he had taken the stolen vehicle across state lines, Miranda was sentenced to a year and a day in the federal prison system, serving time in Chillicothe, Ohio and later in Lompoc, California. Through no work on his part, Ernest kept a low profile for the next couple of years, moving from menial job to menial job before landing a position as a laborer on the night loading dock for the Phoenix produce company. He was still working at the produce firm, where his foreman told authorities he was one of the best workers there, when police showed up to question him about Patty McGee's rape. Police officers Carroll Cooley asked Miranda to accompany them downtown for questioning about the rape and robbery of Patty McGee. "We didn't want to talk with him in front of his wife," Cooley said later. At this point, Miranda was unsure of his status with authorities. "I didn't know whether I had a choice," he said later. "I got in the car and asked them what it was about. They said they couldn't tell me anything." In fact, he was under arrest...