Asking for a lawyer when confronted by LE

[Zippo65]

This is a GREAT post....thanks!!!

[rexdutchman]

Remember this , Officer I don't know what your taking about " be nice , and I have a meeting at so write the ticket I have to go, or have to get home . If le can arrest you they will if not be NICE and keep your "pie hole shut . BE NICE
The statement works for lights out wrong turns too I Didn't know !

[TallDallasGuy]

I think the main thing is not to act like an asshole and be one of these guys that knows all your rights under the constitution and say you’re demanding a lawyer!

Remember, however, anything at anytime you say to an officer can be used against you, even an idle conversation.
If you are driving in a high crime area, whether it be drugs or prostitution, and you get pulled over, you better have a damn good reason why you were in that area.

Now if you start acting like a jackass, saying you are going to refuse to answer questions, etc., he will find something to get you on.

If you ask him why you were pulled over and if he says because your brake light is out, don’t argue and say OK. If he then starts asking where you came from and what you’ve been doing, just ask nicely ask, “May I ask what does that have to do with a light being out?”
If you took a wrong turn or took a different way home and just driving through the neighborhood, just tell him that. If you got lost, you got lost. But leave it at that.

There may have been a time that I may or may not have been arrested, in the back of a police car. After The officer, who is cordial, got the other person’s story, he asked me did I wanna give my version and I told him, “no, I think I just better be quiet.”
The officer was very polite and said “that’s probably the best thing you can do now.”

Those fictitious charges were eventually dropped in this fictitious story.

[mdj7129]

So did you have to go to jail or ? Awhile back I was pulled over and questioned. The officer even had me get out of my car so he could check my car for drugs or whatever else they look for. I got lucky and the officer let me off. Needless to say, I am a lot more careful when out looking.

[ShysterJon]

This thread is rather stale, but the topic is important, so I’ll chip in my two cents worth. The following are my views only, the validity of which may depend on how much rotgut whiskey I’ve had today.

Hobbying is illegal. Many providers are unsavory characters who may have warrants and illegal substances on their person. The cops oftentimes make cases against lawyerless hobbyists by pushing them around, rather than assembling admissible evidence. Therefore I advise an active hobbyist to take precautions.

If you’re arrested, and you have no prior arrangement with an attorney, your “phone call” should be to a bail bondsman. If you’re in Sterrett or any of the local jails, these numbers are easy to obtain.

In Dallas County, bail for plain vanilla prostitution is $500. You can post cash or a bond to be released. Ethical lawyers don’t write bonds because to do so creates a severe conflict of interest. If you don’t show up for court, your bail comes out of your attorney’s pocket, and then both the State and your lawyer want you to be arrested and brought to court. Also, what an attorney charges to write a bond is ALWAYS more than what ANY bail bondsman would charge. I just got a case where the attorney charged the client a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT premium. (The premium is the fee a bondsman charges, usually 10%.)

If when being questioned by a cop you believe it is POSSIBLE you may be arrested, ask the cop if you can leave. If the cop says no, say, “I decline to make any further statement or answer any more questions until I have spoken with a lawyer.” At that point, the cop is legally required to end questioning.

On the other hand, if you have retained a lawyer in advance (in my view, the most prudent course), your “phone call” should be to that lawyer, who may use an independent bail bondsman to get you out of jail. (I receive no cut of the premium and all the bondsman gets from me is your business, although I have a bondsman I use who will post a bond for my client, no questions asked.) You will not get the premium back. However, if you, or your wingman, post cash, you or he will get that money back, minus a small fee paid to the county.

The retainer fee you pay to the lawyer will vary. If an attorney quotes you a fee of any more than a few hundred dollars to be on retainer, politely decline and hang up.

I’ve been writing regarding legal issues on hobby boards (examples: ASPD, Eccie, and OurHome2) since 1996, I think. During that time, I’ve represented hundreds of hobbyists and providers in virtually every conceivable fact situation. I offer a retainer agreement to established hobbyists and providers at a very reasonable rate. If you’re interested, please DON’T PM ME. Please email me at ShysterJonEccie@gmail.com. btw, the foregoing is NOT a solicitation for business. I don’t need business. I don’t trade services for services (grist for another thread.) I do what I do because I really enjoyed hobbying, and I want to offer a service to show my thanks.

P.S. If you email me for my phone number “just in case” you may need it, I will refer you to the preceding paragraph. No one gets to call and wake me up at 3:00 a.m. if I haven’t met our friend, Mr. Green.

[GypsyHeart]

I wish Oklahoma had a Shyster! I am not sure how close OK law is to TX.

[DNinja69]

Originally Posted by Jannisary;1061429093[B

if done wrong can just cause yourself more problems than if you had just been cooperative.

You have to be able to read the situation and make judgement calls from there on how to respond. [/B]


"Never talk to the police" is a principle that can work and if you're rich or daddy has a bunch of money it can probably be followed absolutely all the time but for the rest of us there needs to be some common sense and judgement calls made from time to time.

There is soo much good information in your post Jannisary. My approach is very much read the situation and I do not let the officer(s) get into the Q&A driver seat. Some examples

'Have you had anything to drink?' "I am not intoxicated officer'

Once you get a couple of 'yes' questions going you are going to find it difficult to stop the process. 'What are you out doing tonight?' 'I am headed home, have to work in the morning' Try and close the questions rather than leave them open. Don't be afraid to say 'no thanks' to an offer for a vehicle search or to check your phone.

'Is there something in your vehicle you don't want me to find?' 'Officer am I being held here for some reason?'

Don't make it easy to get information, but don't be evasive or defensive. Now if you have a Snoop size bag of weed in the console, or a hooker scrunched down behind the 3rd row seating, you will have a hard time maintaining a poker face. But when you are not doing anything wrong (whether you are about to, or already did) there is no reason to let law enforcement in on any of it.

[housekeydoor]

Originally Posted by ShysterJon

No one gets to call and wake me up at 3:00 a.m. if I haven’t met our friend, Mr. Green.

HAH! I love that! Too funny! Yeah, ol' Mr. Green sure does fix a lot of problems, doesn't he?

My 2 cents on the whole talking to the police issue. I've seen the 45 minute video on youtube of "do not talk to the police". I will keep it in mind if the situation ever comes up.

In my own life, I have been pulled over many times for minor traffic violations, speeding, and out of date tags. My personal policy is that I never ever say "officer" or "sir" to a cop. I'm not gonna kiss ass when I know I'll probably get a ticket either way. Instead, I just speak to them as I would to anyone, answer the question, don't throw them an attitude, none of that "I know the law" bullshit, etc. Usually I either get a verbal warning or the ticket is for a lesser charge, like failure to obey traffic control devices or something similar. I can live with that.

Then again, I am a clean cut white man, if I were some black jungle bunny nog in his hoopty with tinted windows, dreadlocks, and "fuck the police" blasting on the stereo, it would be a different thing.