One of the most important things I learned in my Language and the Law class is that law enforcement will intentionally misinterpret every type of statement asking for a lawyer as not asking for a lawyer. Even directly saying it like this āI will not speak to you without a lawyerā can be taken as a simple statement of fact rather than a request for a lawyer. You literally have to state āI am now invoking my right to a lawyerā and every time they try to proceed with an interrogation you have to answer every question with āI am invoking my right to have a lawyer presentā. You canāt just tell them you wonāt talk without a lawyer or that you want a lawyer. You have to state that you are invoking your rights. Otherwise they could just say āwell they just said they wouldnāt speak without a lawyer present. Thatās not invoking their rights to a lawyer. Itās just stating a fact.ā even just stating your right to a lawyer doesnāt count!
PLEASE share this addition. I am a lawyer who works in criminal defense, and this is one of the most avoidable things that people consistently get wrong about the Miranda rights.
Here are some more āambiguousā phrases which courts have found DO NOT invoke your right to a lawyer:
āMaybe I should speak to my lawyer first.ā
āI might like a lawyer.ā
āI think I should have a lawyer present for this.ā
āCould I speak to my lawyer first?ā
āHow long until my lawyer gets here?ā
And perhaps most egregiously ā āGet me a lawyer, dawg ā ācause this is not whatās up.ā
Here are the magic phrases which you need to know if you want to invoke your Miranda rights:
1) āAm I free to leave?ā
Itās worth asking this even if the answer is obvious. Even if the officer does not let you leave, by forcing them to admit that you are not free to leave, you are creating a record which your attorney can use to prove that you were in custody. Miranda rights only apply if the interrogation is custodial, meaning that police officers will frequently claim that their suspects wereĀ ānot in custodyā to get around their Miranda rights.
2)Ā āI am invoking my right to remain silent.ā
Simply staying silent will not invoke your right to remain silent. As absurd as this is, you must explicitly say that you are invoking your right to remain silent in order to invoke that right.
3)Ā āI am invoking my right to an attorney.ā
As stated above, you must be not only clear and unambiguous, but clear and legallyĀ unambiguous. Donāt get cute. Donāt get sassy. And on the flip side, donāt get intimidated and use verbal ticks to minimize your request. Say the line with those words exactly ā say it clearly, and say it once, and then say nothing else.
Because even after youāve done all this, the police can still try to get you to talk. Theyāre not supposed to interrogate you, but theyāre allowed to make casual conversation, and if that conversation just happens to circle back around to the thing they wanted to question you about, well, thatās really your fault for talking after you said you wouldnāt, isnāt it? Canāt possibly fault the poor officers when you initiated ā if you really wanted to have your rights respected, you wouldnāt have talked to them in the first place.
The police know this, and they will mercilessly exploit this loophole. So, once youāve successfully invoked your Miranda rights, any and all conversation you have with police officers will put those rights back into jeopardy.Ā
Putting it all together:
Ask: āAm I free to leave?ā
If they say no, say:Ā āI am invoking my right to remain silent and I am invoking my right to an attorney.ā
And then shut up and do not say a single thing to them for any reason whatsoever until you have actually spoken to an attorney. Yes, even if it takes hours. Yes, even if they start talking to you about something else.
Finally, a very important disclaimer:
I may be a lawyer, but Iām not your lawyer, and I cannot guarantee that what Iāve just laid out here will always work for every situation. We didnāt get to this bizarre and absurd place overnight ā we built this ridiculous system piecemeal, by deciding on a case-by-case basis that certain phrases were ātoo ambiguousā or certain types of questioning werenāt actually questioning at all. The law is still in flux, and is still fundamentally out to get you, and willing to bend plain meaning beyond all recognition to do it.Ā Even if you invoke your rights perfectly, exactly as I have specified above, thereās a chance that your invocation of rights will be disqualified on some new technicality that no oneās even thought of yet ā and thatās precisely the problem.
Watch this video: āDonāt Talk To The Policeā
I am begging my followers to please watch this video from start to finish. I know itās long, but it is incredibly valuable information that everyone needs to know, especially if youāre involved in any form of activism.
Every single cop lies. Every single cop lies and manipulates and twists the situation around to get a confession. Even when they know that the person is innocent, even when they know that what they have isnāt enough to convict someone, even when they know that that confession has been made under duress or manipulation. All they care about is getting anything to put someone behind bars.
It doesnāt matter how eloquent or innocent or experienced you are. Do not talk to cops.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.
You also have a right to legal advice, for free, in a police interview in the UK. The Crown Prosecution Service (or the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland) must provide one for you. Minors also have the right to an appropriate adult (parent, carer, social worker etc): if arrested A MINOR CANNOT LEGALLY BE INTERVIEWED IF AN APPROPRIATE ADULT IS NOT PRESENT. (A cop does not count as an appropriate adult because they are not there to advocate for you. Theyāre there to advocate for themselves.)
