Free Legal Advice

I'm not the only one giving away million-dollar legal advice. Stephen Gustitis blogs here about what to do when you're arrested, and Scott Greenfield follows up here with his thoughts, including why peoplr spill their guts after demanding a lawyer:

This may be the gestalt need to explain oneself, by adding something like "I'm in enough trouble already and I don't need to make it worse by talking to you about the crime." Or this may be the mistaken idea that by uttering the magic words, they get a free pass on whatever comes next, so they then spew a total confession (or worse yet, some smart-alec version) thinking that the cops can't use it because they invoked their right to counsel.

I wrote here about what happens when criminal defense lawyers' best advice is followed. Scott also guesstimated that 30% of defendants "sink themselves with their own mouths when they could have beaten the case if they had just remained silent." My impression is that the number is much higher. But more importantly, consider this: 0% of defendants sink themselves by not talking to the police. Because of the much higher cost of living in New York, incidentally, what would be million-dollar legal advice in Houston would cost you $2,315,389.77 up there.

Technorati Tags: criminal defense, interrogation, advice, remain silent