From an AP story:
“Two South Florida teens were involved in the beatings of three homeless men, police said, and family attorneys were negotiating their surrender.”
Does this mean the kids’ lawyers and parents don’t know where the kids are, and are communicating via cell phone, etc? Otherwise, wouldn’t the parents or attys have to tell the police where the kids are, if they know?
So?
Why no link to the story? 
Thanks; sorry.
What do you mean “so?”?
Sounds like the perps were on the lamb and then decided to turn themselves in, probably via a phone call to their parents. This is a very fucked up scene. I saw some video on it. Horrifying.
No felching involved here: On the lam.
I’ve heard about this before, where somebody (usually rich or famous) wanted for a crime “negotiates their surrender” through their attorneys. But I’ve always been curious, what exactly is there to “negotiate”? If they really want to turn themselves in, why not just head down to Police HQ? Surely the police or DA aren’t going to cut them some sort of deal just to get them to come in?
Yes, the police will cut some sort of deal to bring them in. I know nothing about the specific case mentioned in the OP, so what follows is simply broad generalizations.
Attorneys can negotiate the surrender of a suspect, just as they would negotiate the terms under which a suspect would confess or plead guilty. In the linked article, it mentioned that one of the teenagers is out-of-state. So the attorney is likely negotiating when and where he will turn himself in, how he will be booked, when his hearing is, what the charges are, and how the process can be expedited.
A couple of points: first, if the police believe that a suspect is communicating with family members via telephone, the police can seek a warrant permitting them to tap the phone. So when the suspect calls dad to tell him where he is, the cops (having tapped dad’s line) hear the conversation. But if we follow that through, the cops then have to go get the kid. If he’s out of their jurisdiction, they need cooperation from another agency. If he’s out of state, you’ve got to worry about an extradition hearing, etc. Much easier and cheaper to let the attorneys negotiate his surrender.
As for tapping the attorneys’ phones, good luck with that. You’d pretty much only get a warrant for that if the police can demonstrate that the attorney is participating in the kid’s crime.
Obstruction of justice varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Here is a link to Florida’s statutes on the issue. I don’t know whether the parents could be required to disclose the discussion with the kid; I suspect they could, but as a practical matter (given that the families have retained attorneys), the attorneys would intervene, thereby slowing the process down. In most instances, you simply want to use the threat of making charges against the parents as leverage to get them to talk. You don’t actually want to go through with it.
You would have a hard time charging the attorney. The attorney cannot disclose privileged communications. So if his client calls and says, “I’m on the lam; heading toward New Orleans!” and that communication is intended to be confidential and for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, it is privileged. The lawyer must not disclose it. So you really can’t force the attorneys to talk.
Could the police track down and arrest these men without negotiating with the men’s attorneys? Sure, but why? It’s cheaper and easier to negotiate the terms of the surrender, and you’re pretty much set on getting them if the attorney negotiates a plea agreement. Given that the men are facing murder and aggravated battery charges, it is possible that one thing the attorneys are negotiating is the death penalty: my client will surrender if the state agrees it will not seek death in his case.
Uh…yeah. One of those typos that just came out.
Think about this, too- if the alleged perpetrators are wanted for a particularly brutal crime, and the police encounter them, it COULD go badly.
In the cases I have known about, the lawyer is simply arranging for a nice, quiet, non-violent arrest and booking. I don’t think they can negotiate for anything else.
I don’t think that you can negotiate charges with the cops. And I don’t know of a DA that will make a deal like life vs. DP just to get somebody arrested, but I suppose it’s possible…
This seems like an awful precedent to set. If the police (or I guess more likely the DA) agree to a lesser charge to get an arrestee to come in voluntarily, doesn’t that create incentives for anybody charged with a crime (and with a lawyer on retainer) to run and hide?
If a person finds out that he’s suspected of a grievous crime, it’s common sense for her/him to find a lawyer before going to the police. I’m not a lawyer, but here are a couple of reasons.
A. Even if you’re guilty, you’re entitled to certain rights, and you’re foolish not to have a lawyer on board for that.
B. It doesn’t happen often, but some violent offenders get badly beaten in the apprehension, by excited police. The presence of a lawyer is likely to prevent that.
It was a way of saying that we didn’t have enough info to research the case online. Nothing more was implied.
<looking innocent>Hal was involved?</looking innocent>
