Talking to Police

my name is David Payne I practice law in Asheville North Carolina at a law firm known as David or pain PA I've been practicing law for 22 years in Asheville I do both federal and state criminal work and one of the most common questions I have related to criminal issues surrounds the concept of talking to the police I just finished a DWI trial this week and we won the trial but during the trial a lot of language made its way into evidence if you will related to what my client told the police officer now my client was an extremely truthful honest wonderful individual but she indicated that she had three beers she actually said the type of beer and the time that she drank those beers but all that was heard into evidence or at least was presented into evidence was I had three beers which immediately leads one to the presumption that obviously she was intoxicated we were able through other evidence to negate that and to have her eventually found not guilty but what if that other evidence had not been available all we would have had in that situation was what she said coming from a uniformed police officer sitting on a stand the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says a person shall not be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself here's the number one question I have what do I say to the police when they stop me what do I say to the police at a DUI checkpoint what do I say to the police when they pull me over not let me inform you right now that there is nothing you can say to the police that will in any way exonerate you or make them feel differently about you a lot of people think well if I can just talk I'll get my way out of this situation the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution was drafted for you it was also drafted for the police it protects us all and our advice is very simple you say nothing nothing here's what I mean by that a long times the first thing they'll ask you is may I see your license of registration I would give them my license and registration wouldn't have a problem with that the second thing though asks you typically is have you had anything to drink tonight at that point I would look at the officer and I would say something like this officer with all due respect I'm not going to answer questions from you period now they don't like that so they'll ask again sometimes they'll say something like this what do you have something to hide why aren't you talking to me you again reiterate the fact that officer I will not answer questions if the officer directs you to do something for example pull your car over I want you to say something like this are you demanding that I move my car over yes or no in other words you ask the questions the first thing that should come out of your mouth when a police officer pulls you over stops you at a DUI checkpoint is why did you stop me why are you pulling me over what do what are you doing here especially in a DUI checkpoint have I done anything wrong and you'll hear them say no this is just a check point we're just want to make sure that no one's out drinking or driving have you had anything to drink tonight officer with all due respect I don't want to answer questions now a lot of people think that just makes him suspicious and he thinks immediately that you drank well what have you trying to be truthful and what have you said something like this well yeah your officer I I did have a drink about four hours ago I had a glass of wine with my spaghetti do you think that's going to stop him from any further inquiry okay well thanks for telling me that you going about your business and have a nice not know what he's going to do at that point is get you out give you a field sobriety test and give you a breathalyzer test to see if you are in fact intoxicated the more appropriate question which I still wouldn't answer it would be something like this are you intoxicated or are you impaired while you're driving see it's not illegal in the state of North Carolina to consume alcohol and to operate a vehicle as long as you're not impaired and typically that impairment number is 0.08 or higher it used to be 0.15 or 1.5 then it went down to 1.0 then it went down to 0.08 so the issue of impairment is the true issue my point is this what do I say to the police the answer is nothing without due respect officer I'm not going to answer any questions can you tell me why you stopped me he needs to be able to articulate that she needs to be able to articulate that and quite frankly if you have an iPhone I I tell my clients turn them on turn on the iPhone keep it on the entire time so that you can record the events officer why'd you stop me let's talk to you because you were weaving well how was I weaving you start asking the questions that you want the answers to how was i weaving was i speeding was i weaving within my lane was i weaving in somebody else's Lane was i exceeding the speed limit what infraction did I violate what did I do wrong ly to justify you stopping me that's the question you need to ask be careful getting into discourse I'm not saying don't utter a word I'm saying ask questions but watch out for dialogue between you and the officer you want to ask them why they stopped you you don't want to be in an engaging in conversation work eventually he comes back around to sober Jam dinner tonight I ate at XYZ restaurant oh they have a good wine list there don't they well yes as a matter of fact they do do you like red wine or white wine oh I like red wine did you have any tonight well yes I did but I'm not intoxicated please step out of the car that type of conversation is what you want to avoid you ask the questions and if he says pull over it's fine you need to cooperate if your license and registration check out then you need to continue to ask the following question are you detaining me if you are why are you detaining me I detect the odor of alcohol okay thank you you don't want to say I didn't drink anything or only drink one you just say thank you for answering my question remember you have 30 minutes to call and get a witness so if they're going to start their field sobriety test or breathalyzer test etc you need to say something like this are you now going to test me yes I am well under the statute of North Carolina I'm giving you notice at this point in time that I'm going to be calling a witness we now have 30 minutes from this time I will sit in my car and I will wait on my witness do you have to talk No the extremely leery be very wary of police officers who say well the reason you're not talking is because you're hiding something I would suggest the response would be something like this the reason I'm not talking is because the Constitution of the United States of America says that you under any circumstances for any reason cannot compel me to talk and you're not to infer guilt or innocence from my silence there's nothing wrong with simply keeping your mouth shut we encourage you to contact us eight to eight to five eight zero zero seven six on the web

Channel: DRP Law

Views: 272,754

Rating: 4.8163495 out of 5

Keywords: drplawfirm, david r. payne, law firm, asheville, nc, attorney, asheville police department, getting pulled over, Lawyer (Occupation)

Id: pEgEUN8ddfA

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 03 2013