Movie trope? If The Law is investigating a crime and thinks I’m a suspect, can they ask me this sort of thing, or isn’t it The Law’s responsibility to prove I was present? Does one ever need to produce an alibi? Seems like it could only be used against you.
Woke up this morning dreaming some combination of Johnny Cash’s “Long Black Veil” and Buggs Bunny.
IANA Lawyer, but the Law can ask you any question that they want. You are not required to answer. They only need to prove you were present in a court of law; in their investigation, they don’t need any proof, they can ask anyone anything.
Of course they can ask… though (in the U.S.) you can also refuse to answer, and depending on what jurisdiction you’re in, they can’t use your refusal to answer as evidence of you being guilty. So yeah, you don’t HAVE to produce an alibi. Feel free to tell the cops to stop bothering you.
But, if you do have a good alibi, you can use that as evidence that you’re not guilty. Which can certainly can help you. In particular if you give a good alibi during the investigation, that means you don’t have to deal with being arrested, having the police search your house, going to trial, etc. So if you really were somewhere else and can prove it, why not let the cops know that they’re wasting their time investigating you?
You clearly have never seen the video “Never talk to cops.” (or whatever it’s called) because even if you are innocent, truthful in your answer and have evidence/eyewitnesses proving you were where you were when you said you were you STILL don’t give that info to the cops. The best part is after the lawyer goes through every reason to never talk to cops is when the cop gets up and says everything the attorney says is true.
Link to the video. Watch, listen, and learn to shut the fuck up :).
Hey mods! Can we get that link in a sticky?
As a common movie (well, actually, crime fiction in general) trope, I always find this jarring. In real life, who the hell can instantly recall where they were at a certain time on some arbitrary date? If they said “last Thursday” there is a chance I might remember, but if they give me a date (even if it was last Thursday’s date) I would almost certainly have to go and look at my calendar, as well as giving the matter some thought. Even then, if it was more than a week or so ago, I might not be able to pin it down with any certainty, unless I happen to have something written down.
That’s a 48 minute video of which he spends the first couple of minutes babbling like a huckster at the carnival. Any chance someone could sum up the major points?
My understanding is that it’s basically:
[ul]
[li]Don’t[/li][li]Talk[/li][li]To[/li][li]The[/li][li]Cops[/li][/ul]
Basically, there is no way at all that talking to the cops can help you, but plenty of ways that it can hurt you, even if you are completely innocent and totally truthful. So don’t take the action that has a maximum possible benefit of 0.
Edited to add: It is a good watch if you have a spare 48:40.
I haven’t watched it for a while, but here are my recollections from memory. Basically, he starts out with obvious things that might go wrong (you make a misstatement, the cop misremembers, etc.) and then ratchets things up further pointing out that even if none of those things happen, nothing you say to the police can help you. It can only hurt you.
Things you say may be taken out of context. “Hey, I never liked the guy, but I certainly wouldn’t kill him” -> “The defendant admitted he didn’t like the victim”
You may misremember or accidentally say something that’s not 100% true. Lying to the cops is really bad.
The cop may misremember or misrepresent something you say, whether through malice or the fact that they’re only human. Whether or not you lied to the cops, you do not want to have to try to challenge their recollection on the stand. If you just don’t talk, there’s nothing to misremember.
You may jump to a (perfectly reasonable) conclusion, that may look bad. The example in the video is that the cop describes a “gangland style slaying”, and the example suspect says “I don’t even own a gun!” And the cop now gets to say on the stand: “I never even mentioned a gun, but all of a sudden the suspect started talking about one”.
It’s a good video.
Yeah, except the way you handle this is you tell the cops to talk to your attorney. And then you go talk to your attorney and tell him you were bowling with your pet goldfish on the night the octopus went missing, and you have the hotel receipts to prove it. Then your attorney will convey that information to the cops in a way that won’t fuck you over.
You are not an attorney, and can do all sorts of things to incriminate yourself if you talk to the cops. Your criminal defense attorney is an attorney, and won’t make rookie mistakes like you would.
Obviously this applies if you are a suspect in a crime. If you’re just walking down the street and some cop starts questioning you there’s not much point in calling your attorney, just keep walking instead. But if you’re a for-real suspect, then giving your alibi to your attorney can certainly help you, and you attorney will use that information to help your case.
And, another great reason to not talk to the police: If you start to answer their questions, then refuse to answer a later question you have given up your right to remain silent!
Not exactly. You have the right to stop talking to the police at any time.
Thanks for the answers so far. I assume I could be polite enough about not talking to the cops, citing unreliable memory of the past and of what I might tell them and none of us want to hassle with a “he said / she said” ordeal down the road, etc. Looks like the general consensus is, in addition to not talking to the cops, that an alibi is a good thing to the extent it can maybe get The Law to leave me alone about whatever they’re looking into.
But let’s move the goalposts a little. What if my alibi is: I couldn’t have done the bank heist you’re asking about because I was robbing my neighbor’s house at the time. Can I give that alibi in confidence with regard to the investigation of the bank heist investigation–to get me off the hook–without incriminating myself for robbing my neighbor?
Bloody hell, no. Though I suppose you could try to negotiate that with them in advance, before you made any admissions.
I remember watching that video a while ago.
A good read is David Simon’s (The Wire) Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.
Pretty much don’t talk to the cops if you’re a suspect, especially after arrest. In the book, he describes it as a suspect just believing if he can magically spin his tale, he’ll walk out out of the interrogation room and sleep in his own bed that night. The real-life guys Omar was based on know better and just ask for their lawyers.
Cop [walks in]: Anything to say?
Omar: No. Just want to call my lawyer.
Cop: OK. [walks out]
The book is pretty humorous in parts in a gallows sort of way.
On the other hand, in the Duke lacrosse case, even a very solid alibi (witnesses, ATM receipt, dorm key card time stamp, and talking to girlfriend on the phone at almost the same time as the false rape) didn’t save one of the players from the trial. But that was an extreme example of prosecutorial misconduct.
Well, beyond iamthewalrus’ summary, it can also be adequately pared down to the time he asks his guest speaker (a retired police officer with 20+ years of experience) “Over your entire career, how many times have you released a suspect based on something they’d said to you ?”. Answer : “Zero”.
So if it can never help you but has non-zero chances to fuck you over in a great many varied and unpredictable ways even if you’re absolutely innocent, fully cooperative and so forth, why ever do it ?
A Google search with “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets right to remain silent” brought up this link
It goes to Google Book search results, Chapter 4; page 49. Simon gives his walk through of being arrested and questioned and how the cops deal with Miranda.
(I also remembered the “Omar” scene almost verbatim :D)
Not having to talk to the cops is a great right to have. As long as you understand that if no one every talks then no crimes will every be solved. I say that because in everyone of these threads there are some who take it to the extreme where they think its bad to speak to the police even if they are a witness or victim. I know I know, “Its not my job to find the bad guys, that’s your job.” Sure, but its your neighborhood. So just long as you are ok with that…