Ad Orientem: The Best Legal Advice You Will Ever Get

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Best Legal Advice You Will Ever Get

Never ever ever talk to the police. Yes, even if you are 100% innocent.

HT: Craig

7 comments:

ab said...: But if you haven't done anything wrong, "you have nothing to worry about".; 10/14/2012 10:02 PM
John (Ad Orientem) said...: AB
Not sure if your comment was supposed to be sarcastic. But no innocence is not relevant. If a law enforcement officer reads you your rights, even if they only want to know where you were on the night Abe Lincoln was shot, the only words that should come from your mouth are "I want a lawyer."; 10/14/2012 10:46 PM
Anonymous said...: That advise is good for some.

I exonorated several suspects from heavy crimes of physical and sexual child abuse because they chose to talk to me.

The job of a Detective is to find out what happened and who did it. not just to blame someone.

If you did not do the crime, the Detective will find out and you will get out of jail a lot later than if you told your side of the story sooner. If you did the crime the Detective will find out whether you talked or not.

John Rondina
Los Angeles County sheriff, Ret.; 10/14/2012 11:44 PM
CJ said...: John,

I wish all cops were as honest as you are. But by experience, I know better.

My 10 year old cousin was convicted of murder based on a confession coerced by a police officer. The victim was an elderly, obese woman and the evidence showed that the killer moved her body about 30 feet through her house. She was also clutching handfulls of blond hair (my cousin was a black kid with an Afro).

The cop told him he could go back to the birthday party they dragged him out of if he just confessed. Did I mention they questioned him without his mother present?

They finally kicked him off the force when he coreced two more young, black kids into confessing to a rape and murder where the attacker left semen. The boys were pre-pubescent and were only capable of -ahem- shooting blanks.

The video is correct, because you never know who is a decent cop and who is just looking for a conviction, evidence be damned. Never talk to the police.; 10/15/2012 10:16 AM
ab said...: I was being sarcastic.

All you need to know is what the Police Union tells police officers involved in an on-duty shooting (even if wholly justified) or some wrongdoing - "don't talk to investigators without a police union lawyer present". If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for civilians.; 10/15/2012 10:53 AM
mjl said...: I learned a while ago in New England and Chicago, where most of the police are good but there's a sub-culture of corruption, that you can talk to the police but you don't want to do it alone. The worst situation is to have your word against a policeman's word. It really is just better to keep quiet until you are being recorded or have a lawyer present.; 10/15/2012 11:30 AM
Phil said...: Jordan L. makes a good point when he says, "The worst situation is to have your word against a policeman's word." There's no question that's true; any lawyer, judge, or cop would admit it. But if a typical standard for conviction is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, my word against the cop's can never meet that standard. Take the very run-of-the-mill case of traffic tickets: most should be thrown out, because there's almost never any proof that the right person was ticketed. (And, yes, I believe both parties have an incentive to lie.)

I'd like to see it enshrined in law that the testimony of law enforcement officials can be given no more credibility than that of the defendant or other witnesses.; 10/15/2012 12:08 PM