Ain't no cop legally required to act in your best interests

  • MaoistLandlord [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    How do you even contact a lawyer after getting arrested? I have a card with several lawyer contacts in my wallet, but if I got arrested can I just request to get my wallet and call them?

    Also, how do you ensure your conversations in jail are private? They ‘turn off’ the cameras and mics when you call your lawyer or when they come to your holding room, but surely cops still watch it anyway and lie about how they obtained the info

    • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Your lawyer is probably not going to ask you to incriminate yourself, and unless you're explicitly saying the location of evidence there won't be a way to use privileged communication with your lawyer. I imagine both criminal defence attorneys and PDs are painfully aware that cops can't be trusted.

      As for contacting an attorney, I genuinely don't know. I'm guessing if you don't have a lawyer's number memorized they'll just give you a PD and there's probably some dumb supreme court decision saying you only have the right to a lawyer, not a lawyer of your choosing.

      • KnilAdlez [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Total guess, but I bet a PD would be happy to hand off the case to someone else. If they give you a PD, just ask the PD to call your lawyer. Worth a shot at least.

    • CriticalResist8 [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I think if you have the name of a lawyer that's sufficient. They might call your lawyer for you. In the US at least. In Canada you'll just call a hotline that will tell you to say "I have been instructed not to answer that question" and then they can still interrogate you.

      And in the rest of the world idk. In most countries you get something similar to those two models.

      As for private conversations, your lawyer has been doing this for years and even if the cops still manage to record your convo with the lawyer, that's something your lawyer knows about already and will advise you properly on the spot. Dw.

      But yeah, your best bet regardless during interrogation is to say "I have been instructed not to answer that question" to anything they ask past what you are legally obligated to tell them. You also don't have to sign anything they present you with, even the transcript from your own interrogation you can refuse to sign that.

    • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I assure you you are markedly better off with a lawyer than without also refuse to say anything without a lawyer present