Understanding the Importance of Silence When Talking to Police
Hi, let’s talk about when you should or should not talk to the cops. My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a Tulsa criminal attorney with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been practicing family and criminal law for almost eight years now, and I want to help you make law easy by talking to you about what to say, or better yet, what not to say, if you’re dealing with law enforcement.
I’ve actually had a few cases like this come in recently where my clients are facing charges or they think that charges are about to be filed, but they’ve already made statements to the cops. I’m not saying this against my clients. My clients are great people. They’re very intelligent, well-adjusted human beings, but unfortunately, they’re not lawyers.
Why Statements to Police Can Be Problematic
They don’t know what is or isn’t okay or not okay to say to cops, and it’s very, very easy to forget who you’re talking to and accidentally say something that you shouldn’t, or it’s very, very easy to get just hyped up with the adrenaline and just not care who you’re talking to.
I’ve had clients facing assault and battery charges who told me that on their way into the booking cell, they were just fist-bumping the guards on the way in and confessing what they did because they were proud of what they did, and maybe the other side deserved it. That’s great. Still, don’t say that to the cops.
The Impact of Confessions on Legal Defense
Don’t say that to law enforcement. It’s not going to help you. All it’s going to do is it’s going to make my job easier, or not make my job easier. It’s going to make my job harder because ultimately it takes away my ability to defend the case in certain aspects because I can’t go to the prosecutor and say, they didn’t do it.
All I can do is say, all right, well, let’s try to mitigate why they did it. It changes the conversation that your lawyer can have when they’re trying to defend your case, and it doesn’t change it in a way that’s going to be beneficial for you.
A Real-Life Example: The Risks of Talking to Investigators
As another example, recently I had a case where my client was, I’m not going to give details, but he was accused of doing some terrible things to his daughter, and there wasn’t much that I could do because he confessed to the investigator. They had him in custody. They interviewed him for roughly an hour, and this investigator did a great job making him think that she was his friend, think that she was on his side, and he started admitting to the things that he did that he never should have admitted to, to anyone but God, if we’re being honest, but he admitted to all of it.
Not only does that take away my ability to not say, hey, he didn’t do it, but now I’ve got to go in and argue a whole separate hearing about whether or not his disclosure was voluntarily given or coerced. It’s not a good look. It doesn’t help.
Your Right to Remain Silent: Use It Wisely
You see this all the time in the movies and on TV. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law, so don’t say anything. Don’t do that to your attorney. Don’t put them in the position of figuring out whether or not they’re going to be able to help defend you because you’ve already given away the farm by confessing.
The best thing that you can do if you are ever questioned by law enforcement is to say, I do not know, and I want to speak to a lawyer. That’s it. Anything else, you’re playing with fire.
Contact Us for a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
If you have questions about this, or maybe you’re already in a situation where you made a confession, give me a call. I want to sit down with you, go over the circumstances surrounding your confession. Let’s see what we can do to maybe still resurrect your defense. My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a Tulsa DUI attorney with Wirth Law Office, and I want to help you make law easy. Call us at 918-879-1681.
