If the police contact you to investigate a crime, do not talk to them! You have no obligation to answer their questions. Simply tell them that you do not want to speak to them until you have spoken to an attorney.
Some client’s ask me if refusing to answer the police’ questions isn’t just going to convince the police that they have something to hide. “Won’t they arrest me if I don’t cooperate?”
Sure, the police are going to think that you’re guilty if you refuse to answer, or at least that you have something to hide. But I’m not worried about what the police think. The police cannot convict you. Neither can the prosecutor. In fact, neither can the judge. In a criminal case, the only way you can be found guilty is if a unanimous twelve-person jury decides that the prosecution has proven you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And the jury only hears legally admissible evidence. What does that mean? It means that a jury will never hear that you refused to answer the police’s questions. The right to remain silent is just that, a Constitutionally protected right.
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