NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/drugs/21343

Text File | 1993-01-24 | 6.4 KB | 122 lines

Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!fuug!anon
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Staying out of jail
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (The Anon Administrator)
Organization: Anonymous contact service
X-Anonymously-To: alt.drugs
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 19:18:12 GMT
Lines: 110

The recent series of posts regarding draconian sentences for
possession of small amounts of drugs leads me to believe there may be
some serious misconceptions about how the American legal system works
and how one should behave when dealing with it. This is the advice my
attorney gives to all his clients and friends:

My Attorney's four rules for staying out of jail:
Rule 1: Don't commit any crimes
Rule 2: But if you do commit a crime, don't get caught
Rule 3: But if you do get caught, DON'T SAY ANYTHING
Rule 4: Keep repeating the six magic words: I want to call my lawyer.

Considering the newsgroup, we will neglect Rule 1.

With respect to Rule 2, remember that a healthy paranoia is your best
defense. If you must do drugs in public, don't carry around your
whole stash. Don't do it in stupid places, like the rest room. Don't
rubberneck -- someone lighting a cigarette is not suspicious, but
someone looking all over before furtively lighting up is.


In the US, you have a right to remain silent -- USE IT. Shut up. Tell
the police your real name and address and then shut up.


The police will say things like "Joe Bob, you are at a real
life-decision point here. If you don't come clean with us now,
there's no way we can help you. If you tell us the truth now, we will
go easy on you, but if you bullshit us, we'll come down on you like a
ton of bricks." Don't believe it. The police are not there to help
you, not now. And the police don't prosecute the cases, the DA does.
The police have no say as to how actively the DA will pursue the
case. Don't say anything. Don't tell them the truth and don't tell
them lies.


Remember the movie "The Thin Blue Line"?  Randall Adams probably
would have been railroaded anyway, but one of the things that almost
killed him, literally, was that he gave the police a true statement
placing himself in the car, with David Harris and the gun. Don't tell
them lies, because you can be convicted of giving a false statement
to a police officer, or worse, perjury. Just remain silent. Don't
sign anything waiving your constitutional rights.

If you are busted with others, the police will separate you from your
companions immediately. They will try to convince you that your
friends are all going to confess and get off easy, and you will go to
jail. Don't believe it. The vast majority of convictions come from
confessions. The police are allowed to lie to you during questioning;
it's called something like Reasonable Deception and it has been
upheld numerous times. David Simon, the author of Homicide (a book
worth reading) described, in a radio interview, an incident in which
a man shot his friend during a fight in a bar. The police told the
suspect that it was just a flesh wound, they had just talked to the
hospital and he was going to be fine, and why wouldn't he just tell
them how it happened so they could fill out their report and go home?
He did. In fact the victim was DOA at the hospital, and the police
knew it. Don't believe anything they tell you.


You have one card in your hand: If you keep repeating "I want to talk
to my attorney" they MUST stop the questioning and allow you to
contact your attorney. If they don't, it's very likely that, even if
you are convicted, the case will be thrown out on appeal. The courts
have been extremely strict about this.

You are not a lawyer, and you don't understand how the legal system
works, regardless what grade you got in sophomore Poli. Sci 202. You
are in no position to make deals or decisions. Don't do or say
anything before talking to a lawyer. If a police officer asks your
permission to do anything, like a search, that means that you have
the right to refuse: a police officer will never ask permission for
something that he has the right to do without it. They may hand you a
paper and say "You will sign this paper giving me permission to do X
and we will do it." This means you have the right to say no. If you
think that doing X will incriminate you, then by all means say no.
They cannot use your refusal against you. The worst that can happen
is that they get a court order and do it anyway, but you may be able
to buy some very valuable time.

You should have an attorney, now, before you need one. When the
police ask you if you have an attorney, answer Yes. If you have dealt
with an attorney before, call him or her. Carry their card in your
wallet. If you don't have an attorney, say yes anyway and call Jacoby
and Meyers, or pick one out of the phone book, anything. You can
always change attorneys. Don't wait for a public defender.

When your attorney comes, she will begin by saying something like,
"Before you tell me anything, I must inform you that I cannot and
will not ask you to lie on the witness stand. If you tell me that you
did X and Y, and cannot put you on the stand and have you say you did
not do X and Y." If she did, she would be contributing to the
commission of a felony (or something like that). Nevertheless, it is
in your best interest to tell your attorney the absolute truth. Your
attorney is your only friend in the world, at this point. Your
clergyman, your doctor, your family, your friends can all be
subpoenaed and forced to testify. Only your attorney can be trusted
to keep strictly confidential everything you tell her. We bash
lawyers all the time, but there is no substitute when you are busted.

Some disclaimers: Obviously, this advice is only applicable to the
US; anywhere else all bets are off. Also, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm
quite confident that everything I've said here is accurate, but talk
to an attorney, now, before you need one, about how to behave if you
are arrested. And if you are an attorney and I've said anything
inaccurate, please correct me.
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