The first advice a Colorado criminal lawyer is going to give a person is to not talk to the police. For over 25 years, we have marveled at how often a defendant sinks their own ship by talking. The evidence against them is not strong enough to convict them, but the words they speak make convicting them easy for the district attorney.
The police are allowed to lie to you, and they will. They will tell you that your friend has already confessed, or that they have other proof that you committed the crime, or something similar. What they are saying may not be true. As a suspect, you should remain silent, and assume the police are trying to trick you, because they often are.
The police may offer to make a deal with you if you cooperate. They do not have the authority to do that. Only a district attorney can make a promise like that. Your Douglas County criminal lawyer may be able to work out an agreement like that with the prosecutor, but you should not try to make an agreement like that directly with the police.
When you are arrested and brought to jail, it is very important not to speak with anyone on the jail phone. These calls are always recorded, and listened to by the police to see if you made statements that will help them convict you. Also, do not speak to other inmates, as they can become witnesses against you. A prosecutor may later make a deal with the inmate to testify against you in exchange for their own soft treatment.
Detectives or police are not allowed to search your home or your car unless they either have a warrant, or have probable cause to search without a warrant. You should never give consent to search. If you give consent, you effectively waive your Constitutional protections against the government’s search, and can no longer challenge the officer’s probable cause later in court.
As mentioned above, your calls from jail may be recorded. But there is even more to it than that. The police or detectives frequently stage phone calls to you while you are in jail. They may have someone you know call you and start talking about the case against you, while they are recording the call. The person calling will be directed to ask you questions or say things to you that are intended to get you to incriminate yourself. They may, for example, say “the police know you were involved” or something like that. The person calling may be the alleged victim in the case, or a co-defendant. Do not respond to these questions or statements and simply hang up. Resist the urge to speak with anyone about anything related to the case. Even you defense lawyer will not speak with you about the facts over the jail phone.
There is never a good reason to argue with police. You should not make any statements at all to the police. Further, cursing or making offensive remarks will be noted in the police report and used against you later. The district attorney’s plea offer that comes later may be worse because you were offensive to the police. If they are intent on arresting you, do not argue against this. Allow your defense lawyer to do the talking later.
Don’t try to get away from police
Trying to avoid the police can be used against you. The prosecutor can present evidence to a jury that you tried to flee from police, and argue that this is additional evidence that you are guilty.
Police will try every way they can to get you to talk to them. When they are investigating a crime, there is a limit to how much evidence they have against you. They want to add to that evidence by getting you to make statements that they can use against you later. They will try to trick you by making you think that not speaking to them makes you look guilty. Don’t fall for it. Remain silent!
Defendants often think they should try to look like they are being cooperative, as though this will inspire the police to be nice to them, or give them a break. So often they make statements that they think, at the time, won’t hurt them. Yet, time and time again it can be these statements that seal their conviction later in court. Your Fifth Amendment Right against self-incrimination is a very powerful right. If you say nothing to the police, the district attorney is not allowed to let the jury know that you remained silent later when your case goes to trial.
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