It’s #STFUfriday!
When cops ask you questions, ask for a lawyer and then STFU:
- I am not discussing how I’m doing or where I’m going.
- Am I free to leave?
- I am not answering any questions.
- If they ask to search anything: "I do not consent to a search."
- I want to speak to a lawyer.
Cops are only REQUIRED to give you Miranda warnings if you are “in custody.” “Not free to go” is an oversimplification.
Remember you can always invoke your rights even when you aren’t in custody.🧵
Here are examples mostly from Massachusetts law (not necessarily applicable elsewhere).
NOT IN CUSTODY
- Roadside questioning after traffic stop (this one is SCOTUS, not MA)
- Person brought to police station as potential witness (not suspect) not in custody until he made incriminating statements
- Person injured in car accident restrained by EMTs for medical reasons while questioned by police
- Without more, suspect detained during execution of legal search warrant not in custody (SCOTUS) /3
IN CUSTODY:
- Juvenile aggressively questioned in his bedroom by cops who demanded that he agree with their “sympathetic” version of incident
- Person handcuffed and held in police cruiser for "threshold inquiry" and asked what she was doing in the bushes next to a store that had just been robbed
- Person showed up at police station after hearing co-defendant had implicated him
THESE THINGS ARE WAY TOO TRICKY TO NAVIGATE ON YOUR OWN.
STFU AND CALL A LAWYER!
/4
[David Nathanson has moved]
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Neil
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