A Law Professor Explains Why You Should Never Talk to Police

[injb]

Necropost!

Police ignore "purple". SO KEEP YOUR SNARKY COMMENTS TO YOURSELF AND DON'T USE SARCASM! (No matter how obvious you think it is)

Just finished watching Forensic Files Season 1, Episode 12 on Netflix.

A girl is abducted from her home in the middle of the night and sexually assaulted and killed. At some point her killer bit her shoulder, leaving serious bite marks.

After being brought into the station for questioning for SERIOUSLY sketch forensic evidence (bite mark comparison) the suspect was getting frustrated with investigators. He told investigators repeatedly that he was innocent because he was asleep at home during the crime. After being asked over and over about how he kidnapped her, he uttered in obvious frustration and sarcasm "Welp. Then I guess I did it in my sleep then, huh?!" (paraphrased).

Cops ignored his tone and took that comment as a confession that he admitted to doing it while he was sleepwalking and threw him in jail pending a trial. It took a sharp defense attorney that had to get NASA involved to digitally enhance the forensic bite mark photo and show that what was visible in the first photo wasnt the whole story, and there were actually TWO bites; making the first conclusion of a match go out the window.

He was released 4 months later once his attorney was able to point out that the bite marks didnt really match, and his "confession" was just frustrated sarcasm.

Keep your pie hole shut.

I shot the clerk.

 

[Gabriel]

Necropost!

Police ignore "purple". SO KEEP YOUR SNARKY COMMENTS TO YOURSELF AND DON'T USE SARCASM! (No matter how obvious you think it is)

Just finished watching Forensic Files Season 1, Episode 12 on Netflix.

A girl is abducted from her home in the middle of the night and sexually assaulted and killed. At some point her killer bit her shoulder, leaving serious bite marks.

After being brought into the station for questioning for SERIOUSLY sketch forensic evidence (bite mark comparison) the suspect was getting frustrated with investigators. He told investigators repeatedly that he was innocent because he was asleep at home during the crime. After being asked over and over about how he kidnapped her, he uttered in obvious frustration and sarcasm "Welp. Then I guess I did it in my sleep then, huh?!" (paraphrased).

Cops ignored his tone and took that comment as a confession that he admitted to doing it while he was sleepwalking and threw him in jail pending a trial. It took a sharp defense attorney that had to get NASA involved to digitally enhance the forensic bite mark photo and show that what was visible in the first photo wasnt the whole story, and there were actually TWO bites; making the first conclusion of a match go out the window.

He was released 4 months later once his attorney was able to point out that the bite marks didnt really match, and his "confession" was just frustrated sarcasm.

Keep your pie hole shut.

This reminds me of an incident that occurred about twenty-some years ago with my wife.

We lived in an apartment building. There was a criminal mischief that had occurred on the property to one of the tenant's vehicles. When the vehicle owner saw the damage there was a really loud argument between her and several of the other tenants of our building over who did the damage. My wife was working midnights and the argument was keeping her awake. She was getting pretty angry about it and finally had enough. She opened her bedroom window and shouted that she did it and told everyone to be quiet (not nearly that kindly). She didn't actually do it, she was just exhausted from working the night before and needed some peace and quiet so she could sleep.

She was actually arrested and charged with the criminal mischief. The moral of the story is don't confess to anything you didn't do regardless of who is listening, whether there are police present or not.

 

[injb]

This reminds me of an incident that occurred about twenty-some years ago with my wife.

We lived in an apartment building. There was a criminal mischief that had occurred on the property to one of the tenant's vehicles. When the vehicle owner saw the damage there was a really loud argument between her and several of the other tenants of our building over who did the damage. My wife was working midnights and the argument was keeping her awake. She was getting pretty angry about it and finally had enough. She opened her bedroom window and shouted that she did it and told everyone to be quiet (not nearly that kindly). She didn't actually do it, she was just exhausted from working the night before and needed some peace and quiet so she could sleep.

She was actually arrested and charged with the criminal mischief. The moral of the story is don't confess to anything you didn't do regardless of who is listening, whether there are police present or not.

Good point, but it's also dangerous to think that you have to admit to something illegal in order to fall victim to this. You don't. Example: you are out and about, legally carrying your gun when you get into a altercation of some kind. Nothing serious - no violence or threats happen, just words and/or gestures. Maybe you don't even do anything - it's all the other guy. Soon after that, you're approached by the police and while checking your ID etc. they casually ask if you have any weapons etc. You have nothing to hide and no reason to lie, so you say yes. You're immediately arrested and charged with threatening someone with a gun. Wait, what happened? Simple: unbeknownst to you, the other person called the cops and told them you threatened them with a gun. Maybe they saw your gun, maybe they didn't and they just made it up to cause trouble for you, maybe they really think you did it etc. Doesn't matter. With nothing more than an accusation from someone, you might be ok. Maybe the police would have searched you anyway....but then you could have challenged it in court. But since you volunteered the information, you have no chance of that now.

You may think this is somewhat contrived, but in fact this is a true story - if you ever get those concealed carry insurance policy ads on youtube where they have people telling their personal story, you've probably seen this one. I think the guy ended up escaping conviction, but he did get arrested and might not have if he had refused to play "20 Questions" with the police.

I'm not trying to contradict what some people have posted here suggesting that it's sometimes beneficial to talk...but how do you know when it's one of those times?