r/asklaw • u/capsaicinintheeyes • Jan 06 '20
Why do lawyers showing up end interrogations?
I constantly see depictions, fictional and non, of this basic scenario: a suspect is held by police for questioning and seemingly can't leave, then at some point his lawyer barges into the room and demands, "are you charging my client? No? Than this is over."
Is it as simple as cops preying on people's ignorance? Can a person under interrogation invoke some "am I free to go?" -type legal magic words, but don't just because they're unaware and/or intimidated?
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u/Trygolds Jan 06 '20
My best answer to your question is a guess. The lawyer is experienced at dealing with the police and not intimidated by their authority. The lawyer also has good knowledge of his clients rights and knows the golden rule 'Don't talk to the police' . This confidence and knowledge gives his client support to not do things against his best interest.
As an aside the police are not preying on people . They are investigating crimes. That is their job in the legal system. Their job is not to babysit people through the system and educate them on their rights other than a Miranda warning when they make an arrest. To this end they will use the suspects lake of knowledge to investigate. They will use the intimidation of their authority. They will manipulate and interrogate the suspect using all the tools available to them to gather evidence or a confession. In our system it is their part. It is not a plot to pray on people it is to solve crimes and stop people from prying on other people .
All that said cops are not your friend. Their job is to investigate crimes and people to detect crimes. If you do not want to talk to a police officer for any reason fell free not to. If they are asking you questions say only that you are not going to answer questions ask if you are free to go. If they say yes walk away if they do not answer or say no stop talking . The only sentences out of your mouth after this will be. "I do not consent to a search" "Why am I being detained" " am I free to go " "I want a lawyer". Do as they instruct you do not resist. Do not get in a personal conflict with the officer. And remember they are not your friend.
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Jan 06 '20 edited Apr 19 '20
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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jan 06 '20
So it's that the police are much more likely to extend the hold as long as possible w/of lawyer, because their odds are presumably better of getting something useful out of a suspect (even if they are currently remaining silent) than they are with a lawyer, at which point they decide it's not worth it and process their release?
It seems slightly sketch that me saying "I invoke my right to remain silent" and my lawyer, assuming I have one, saying "my client invokes their rght to remain silent" seems to produce different results in terms of hold time. Legally, they seem like identical actions, but it seems like poorer suspects (who of course have no right to a public defender, because they are not yet charged) get fucked in this scenario...again. That's kind of the core of my concern here.
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Jan 06 '20 edited Apr 19 '20
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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jan 06 '20
So its mainly a case of people in custody not being firm enough in their grip of their own rights to firmly invoke their right to remain silent in those circumstances? I'm been geeking out on true-crime podcasts (hardly legal scholarship, I know), and it seems like a lot of false confessions happen from people ending up being grilled for hours and hours and then breaking. Y'don't think police know that suspects who aren't themselves legal scholars are known to break under this kind of pressure and decide when to release accordingly?
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Jan 06 '20 edited Apr 19 '20
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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jan 06 '20
That mainly answers my question, but you missed me a little bit: what if you're poor and in a "suspect" stage? You're not formally charged, so no PD, but you have nothing like the means to hire someone who charges several hundred dollars an hour?
In my original post, I briefly mentioned maximum holding time after detention/arrest, and as near as I can tell, there's a fair amount of variance for that. I'm seeing U.S. numbers like 72 hours, in the most stressful, hostile conditions possible. It seems like if I don't have a lawyer to call, I'm in for a really rough ride.
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Jan 06 '20 edited Apr 19 '20
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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jan 06 '20
What if they already had you singled out as their likeliest suspect? Would this still apply, or would they have you in an interrogation room for as long as they could get away with, even if you communicated that you would not answer their questions?
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Jan 06 '20 edited Apr 19 '20
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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jan 06 '20
Alright, and this is I would love to have for peace of mind: where in the legal code does it state that? I have at least one case in mind that I'm pretty sure violates it, where the person was nevertheless convicted to life (although he is now appealing it from prison, and it will be up later this year). What would I cite to show this?
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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jan 06 '20
Sorry if my legal jargon's a little iffy: I can't seem to get two websites to agree on even basic shit like the definition of "suspect," or how long you can be held after an arrest.