Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Part 2: Why Do You Talk to Cops Who Suspect You of a Crime?

Previously: Part 1: Talking to Police. A Sucker's Bet.

As noted in the introductory post to this series, it is widely known that talking to the cops is a bad idea when you are the suspect of an alleged crime. Yet, day after day people march themselves to their neighborhood precinct at the behest of their local constabulary to spill their guts.

Is this you? If not, then shut your trap.
If you are planning to do the same, ask yourself, "Am I Keyser Söze?If the answer is "no", then you should probably reconsider your plan.*

Which begs the question, if it's so obvious that you shouldn't talk to the cops when they suspect you of a crime, why are so many  people not named Keyser Söze constantly spilling their guts to the police?

5 Reasons You Voluntarily Talk to Cops who Suspect you of a Crime
  
1. You do not want to appear guilty.

Whether you did it or didn't do it, at the very beginning you understandably do not want to do anything to APPEAR guilty. You worry that, if you refuse to talk to the police officer wanting to interrogate you, that officer will assume that you are guilty. Otherwise, why wouldn't you talk? What do you have to hide? And if you weren't already sure whether that officer feels that way, they will surely leave no doubt by asking you those very same questions when you politely decline to comment.

2. You think you are smarter than the cops.

You've got your story straight, right? You rehearsed it the whole way down to the police station. It's easy: W, then X, then Y, then Z. All you have to do now is spit it out just like you rehearsed and you'll be home before dinner....right? Wrong. What happens when the officer asks you about shark? Wait, what? Shark? Uh oh...

3. You want to get out of jail sooner rather than later.

Many times when you are being questioned by authorities who accuse you of a crime, you are on what is called a "24 hour hold".  A 24 hour hold is exactly what it sounds like - the police can hold you for up to 24 hours while they investigate the crime. In short, get comfortable.

But who has 24 hours to just hang out at the station? There are jobs to work, kids to rear, and Netflix originals to binge. And if you don't talk, they might just file the case with what they have and hold you for days/weeks/months. So, you think if you just talk to the police and give them your side of the story, they'll certainly believe in your innocence and you'll be home by dinner. Get that pesky felony thingy allllll cleared up,

4. You believe the false promises made to you by the police interrogator.

Officer's want you to talk. Many times they NEED you to talk. Your confession could be the difference between an unsolved case and a guilty verdict, or a hard fought acquittal at trial and guilty plea down the road. This desire to get a confession leads to empty promises. They sound like this, "I can help you with the prosecutor if you're just honest with me". "It'll look much better for you later in court if you admit you're guilty to me right now". "Your family, friends and community will think you're a monster if you don't take responsibility - I can help you prevent that".  Suddenly, you exist in a world where you believe the future of your reality is a binary choice between being a monster or non-monster. It is easy to start talking to prevent monster-hood.

5. You misunderstand your rights under the law.

Before any interrogation, you will likely sign a "Waiver of Rights" form that will be read to you by the police. Despite signing the form, people misunderstand these rights. They know they have a right to remain silent and a right to have an attorney present, they just don't understand that invoking those rights is not an admission of guilt in and of itself. They think guilt will be inferred by the courts when they ask for an attorney or decide to remain silent or that doing so loses them the presumption of innocence.

*If you don't know who Keyser Söze is, just get off my blog right now, you animal. 

Coming Up:
Next week I will write about how all of these reasons for talking are dumb in Part 3: Your Reasons for Talking are Dumb.

The Glaesman Law Firm, LLC is a full service criminal defense law firm located at 820 S. Main St. Suite 208, St. Charles, Missouri 63301. If you or a loved one has been charged with a crime or is facing a probation violation hearing, call them right away to discuss your options.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Part 1: Talking to Police - A Sucker's Bet.

When you are accused of a crime, or the police suspect you of a crime, one of the first things they will do is "just try to get you to answer a few questions". Sounds simple enough, but your answers to those few questions are likely going to land you in a legal mess. And by "legal mess", I mean sharing a 6x8 cell with some dude named Clarence for the foreseeable future. That is why any criminal defense attorney worth his weight in mahogany will tell you to keep your mouth shut!

Lamp probably not from Pottery Barn.
But here's the thing - if the answer is so clearly to just shut your trap, why do so many people willingly subject themselves to police interrogations? I mean, luckily for the people who manufacture those weirdly hot, hangy-down overhead lights found only in interrogation rooms they do. But unluckily for the next innocent person who walks into the station to falsely confess to a crime they did not commit, there is still so much confusion on this issue.

No joke - as a criminal defense lawyer, the question I get asked the most other than "how do you defend THOSE people" is "Should I cooperate with police?" After all, they are the police. Right? Sworn to protect and serve.

Cooperate? Yes. Always obey commands and follow orders. But give a statement after being held for 12 hours without sleep, food, air conditioning (or heat) or a lawyer? Absolutely not. Knowing your rights when subjected to a custodial interrogation is not being uncooperative or anti-police. Neither is invoking the rights granted to you by the Constitution of the United States when your liberty is at stake.

In this space I attempt to answer the most common questions people have about whether they should give a statement to police, why the answer to that question is almost always no, and what the consequences of either decision might be.

Next Up

Part 2: Why do you talk to police who suspect you of a crime?

Caveat: If you or someone you know is currently a suspected of a crime and police want to talk, stop reading this blog and contact a criminal defense attorney right away to help you. As always, the words on this blog are no substitute for particularized advice from an actual attorney about your specific legal circumstances.

The Glaesman Law Firm, LLC is a full service criminal defense law firm located at 820 S. Main St. Suite 208, St. Charles, Missouri 63301. If you or a loved one has been charged with a crime or is facing a probation violation hearing, call them right away to discuss your options.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

What does it mean to have your traffic ticket "fixed"?

Unless you're Miss Daisy and you have an ageless Morgan Freeman to drive you from place to place, statistics say you will at some point in your life be stopped and ticketed for a moving violation. Failure to yield, speeding, improper left turn, all the old favorites.

When this happens, its ridiculously annoying. I mean, that cop has to have something better to do, right?

Instead of just paying the fine and taking points on your license, in most cases it's probably better to pay a lawyer to "fix" the ticket. So what does it mean to have your ticket "fixed" by a lawyer?

First, it DOES NOT mean that your ticket is automatically dismissed once you pay the lawyer. Sure, there are times your tickets can be dismissed, but that is rare. So no, paying $100 to some massive, bulk traffic law firm will not be the end of the pain in your rear that is this traffic ticket.

What it DOES mean, however, is that your lawyer will get the prosecutor to amend your speeding ticket to a non-moving violation. Usually littering or illegal parking. By having your ticket amended, you will avoid having points added to your license by the Department of Revenue. This is important because once you accumulate too many points on your license, your car insurance rates go up and you risk losing your license.

Sounds painless, right? Wrong.

In exchange for that amended violation, you will often pay a much heftier fine plus court costs. Some people are forced to pay the court as much as $300 in fines and court costs depending on the circumstances of their traffic violation! Ridiculous. Add to that the $100 (per ticket, of course) you will pay the lawyer you hired to get the ticket amended, and now your "failure to yield" will result in your failure to eat anything but Ramen for the next month because you're broke.

How do you know if you need to hire a lawyer for your traffic tickets? Here are a few guidelines you can follow:
  1. Make sure your ticket is actually a moving violation and determine how many points on your license it could lead to. You can find a list of moving violations and their point values on the DOR website here
  2. Determine how many points are already on your license. If you're getting close to accumulating enough points to where your license will be revoked, you should probably hire a lawyer to prevent more points.
  3. Check with your insurance company to see how accumulating traffic points would affect your insurance rates.
  4. Was there an accident? Was someone injured or worse? Always get a lawyer when there is an accident resulting in property damage or bodily injury as the results on your ticket could expose you to future civil liability over the accident.
As always, every case is different so the best advice I can give you as to whether you need your ticket fixed would be to take advantage of a free consultation offered by a lawyer in your area to determine if you need to hire an attorney to fix your tickets. I happen to know a good one.


The Glaesman Law Firm, LLC is a full service criminal defense law firm located at 820 S. Main St. Suite 208, St. Charles, Missouri 63301. If you or a loved one has been charged with a crime or is facing a probation violation hearing, call them right away to discuss your options.