As promised, today we are going to give you an example of how offering up information that you are not by law obligated to can make or break your case.
As we mentioned yesterday, even if a cop has not read you your rights anything you say to them can be used against you should you be charged with a crime.
For example, you are pulled over for a traffic violation and the cop gets to your car claiming that he smells marijuana. He then proceeds to ask you questions such as “Do you have weed in the car?”, “Who’s weed is it?”, “Who did you buy it from?” Say you choose to answer these questions and admit to the weed being thinking this will help you get off easier than if you had chosen not to answer the officers questions. Unfortunately you’ve just made it a lot easier for prosecution to make a case against you because you’ve just admitted it yourself! Essentially you’re telling on yourself!
Due to our 5th amendment right, “you have the right to remain silent.” Say given the same situation above, you choose to remain silent and let your lawyer speak on your behalf. Now its the officers and fellow prosecutions responsibility to PROVE the weed belonged to you. We are innocent until proven guilty. It would be our recommendation to exercise this right should you be put in this situation and let your lawyer speak for you.