I agree, only smart guys like you should talk to the police.
I’ll stick with Justice Robert Jackson, and not say anything.
[James Duane] Now. Here's the easiest question, you'll ever get from a client, in all the days of your life. Question: "Hey, the police are here. They want to talk to me. What should I do?" Well I could give you my answer to that question, in case you haven't already guessed it, but why don't we go to a real expert.
[Slide 5] Justice Robert Jackson
* General counsel, Bureau of Internal Revenue, 1934-1935
* Special counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1935-1938
* Special counsel, Securities and Exchange Commission, 1936-1938
* Assistant U.S. Attorney General, Tax Division, 1936-1938
* Solicitor General of the United States, 1938-1939
* Attorney General of the United States, 1940-1941
* Chief U.S. prosecutor, Nuremberg Trials, 1945-1946
[James Duane] Justice Robert Jackson, a prosecutors prosecutor. Like me, he began his private practice in Buffalo New York, years before I did. And after that he served as General counsel for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Security and Exchange Commission, Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Tax Division, later the Solicitor General and the Attorney General of the United States, and then the Chief U.S. prosecutor for the Nuremberg Trials. That's an impressive resume.
[Slide 6] Justice Jackson's View
*"[A]ny lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no uncertain terms to make no statement to the police under any circumstances."
*Watts v. Indiana, 338 U.S. 49, 59 (1949) (Justice Robert Jackson concurring in part and disse... emphasis added)
[James Duane] Years later, when he was a Justice on the Supreme Court, Justice Jackson stated quote: "Any lawyer worth his salt", today we would say his or her, "will tell the suspect", his client, "in no uncertain terms to make no statement to the police under any circumstances." There's the title of my talk.
I'm here to explain to you, the surprising, and somewhat counterintuitive, and admittedly unlikely reasons why Justice Jackson was right. I'm reminded of this because I'm amazed, we're all amazed, by the frequency with which we see newspaper articles coming out all the time from people who really ought to know better who say "well I'll talk to the police, I mean after all I'm- I'm a senator, I'm a- I'm O. J. Simpson, I'm a- I'm an experienced highly polished individual, I've got a lot of experience with public relations," even criminal defense attorneys.
There was a local news story here in the Virginia Pilot just a couple of months ago about a experienced criminal defense lawyer who ended up getting convicted of criminal assault because he talked to the police. He was accused of having assaulted another attorney in the hallway. There were no other witnesses to this. A woman said that he grabbed her by the throat during an argument over a case. He denied it. At trial it was his word against hers. He said "I did not even touch her." But unfortunately for him when the police had approached him earlier and said "would you be willing to answer some questions?" He said "sure, why not. I'm a- I'm an attorney, I'm a criminal defense attorney, I'm savvy, I'm sophisticated, I've got oratorical prowess, I'm- I'm accustomed to dealing with the police, by all means." And then there was a conversation that was not recorded. When the case went to trial it was no longer his word against hers, because when he testified at trial "I never touched her," the officer took to the stand and testified "well when I met with him, he said he did put his hand on her throat, but just as a joke." Then he had to take the stand again and say "that's not true. I never said that. I never admitted to you that I-" Now it's his word against two people. Who's telling the truth? We'll never know for sure, but he was found guilty
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