How serious a crime is lying to the police & other law enforcement authorities?

[Mr.Slant]

@pulykamell

An interesting caveat to this is that pre-Miranda silence can be used against you in a court of law.

What if you Mirandize yourself?

[pulykamell]

@Jonathan Woodall

What if you Mirandize yourself?

Not sure what you mean by this.

Anyhow, the way it works is that if you’re not under police custody you don’t need to be read your Miranda rights, of course. The cops are free to question you at will. However, you are also free to leave at will if you are not under arrest. The cops will often say something to this effect, that you’re not under arrest, but they’d like to question you.

Here’s a more precise explanation of your rights when being questioned by police.

If you are under investigation for a criminal offense, you can prevent “pre-Miranda” silence from becoming an issue by stating, “My attorney told me never to talk to the police without talking to him first. Do I have to answer your questions?” Once informed that you have the right to remain silent, no negative inference can be drawn from your exercise of that right. There is nothing wrong with making your attorney responsible for your choice to remain silent – it looks a lot more suspicious if you simply refuse to answer questions than if you present the explanation that your attorney gave you standing advice not to answer questions.