From: an7919@anon.penet.fi
Subject: Staying out of jail
Organization: Anonymous contact service
X-Anonymously-To: alt.drugs
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 19:18:12 GMT

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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi.
Due to the double-blind system, any replies to this message will be anonymized,
and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned.
Newsgroups: alt.drugs