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Are You in Trouble? Do Not Speak to the Police Without a Lawyer
May 23, 2014 by Adler Markoff & Associates
If you find yourself as a potential target of a criminal investigation in Oklahoma, you are obviously encountering a high degree of stress. Your first move should be to contact an experienced Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer to make sure that your guaranteed Constitutional rights are properly protected and enforced, but in the meantime there are a few ideas to keep in mind so that you don’t wind up harming your own defense before you get an opportunity to meet with your attorney to set a strategy that’s beneficial to you. Below are some reasons to keep one idea in mind above all others – do not speak to the police without a lawyer.

IT’S YOUR RIGHT TO SPEAK TO AN OKLAHOMA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER FIRST

As a criminal defendant, once you are arrested the Constitution kicks in and provides you with several legal rights, two of which are supposed to be explicitly explained to you when you are arrested. Those two rights are the right to remain silent and the right to speak to an attorney. Therefore, you are not doing anything wrong by politely refusing to speak to or to provide a statement for police and instead choosing to remain silent until you speak to your attorney. This is not a time to be concerned with helping others out – you owe it to yourself to maximize the rights provided to you.

AN OKLAHOMA CITY CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER CAN BE PRESENT DURING QUESTIONING

Everyone has seen the somewhat sensationalized depictions of police interrogations on television and in the movies. While much of what we see is not realistic, the bottom line is that police interrogators are very skilled when it comes to obtaining information they need to continue to prosecute their case. There are many approaches that can be used, and the presence of an Oklahoma criminal defense attorney will provide you with the assurance that you do not misstate anything or unwittingly incriminate yourself based on your answers to seemingly meaningless questions.

Generally speaking, you owe nothing to anyone but yourself when you are being investigated for a crime. The fact that you chose to remain silent and to speak only to an Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer cannot be held against you later in the prosecution process, but what you do say can and almost certainly will be used against you. Rather than take this unnecessary risk, contact the Oklahoma criminal defense lawyers at AMA Law as soon as possible to schedule an initial consultation if you are being investigated for a crime.