Friday, July 22, 2011

Denver DUI lawyer / be courteous to cops

As a Denver DUI lawyer, I know how difficult police officers can be for those who they detain. Even if they are just trying to do their jobs, their job basically involves getting information out of you that you don't want to disclose, and probably get you in trouble for it. Even for an innocent suspect, just the efforts to get incriminating evidence from them is intrusive and obnoxious, and can result in time spent in a holding cell or other unpleasantries. So when I say be nice to police officers, I know how difficult that can be. However, it's one of the most important things you can do to make sure your trip through the criminal justice system does not turn disastrous.

Although you have a variety of rights protecting you against search and seizure, those rights are not practicably enforced on the spot of the search. Instead, under a legal rule called the "fruit of the poisonous tree," any evidence gathered because of an illegal search can not be allowed as evidence in a trial. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about that at the scene of a traffic stop All you can do is voice your objection politely and let your Denver DUI lawyer fight it in court.

So being rude at the scene of the stop will get you nowhere in a DUI case. There are two key reasons to be nice to the police. First, because that is how a judge and jury expect folks to act around cops. If the officer testifies at trial that you were disrespectful or belligerent, the jury may see that as the actions of a guilty person, or simply take a dimmer view of your case for being disrespectful. Second, police officers are people too and do not like being disrespected. Because of their position of power in a traffic stop, officers can make your life much, much worse right away if they think you are acting sour towards them. They can put you in jail for a period of time, perform a bunch of searches you will not enjoy, and ask many questions you have little interest in answering. So make sure to be nice to the police officers no matter how frustrating it can be to be stopped. Politely inform them you do not want to answer questions and ask for a Denver DUI lawyer right away.

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