Apparently There Are a Few Things You Should Say to the Police

Massad Ayoob of Backwoods home, and John Correia of Active Self Protection have a discussion on WHAT TO SAY AFTER YOU’VE HAD TO DEFEND YOURSELF?.

Defense lawyers often tell you “Never talk to the police.” You have to understand where that advice comes from. In forty-plus years as an expert witness in homicide cases, including many years of teaching CLE (Continuing Legal Education) for practicing attorneys, and a couple of years as Co-Vice Chair of the Forensic Evidence Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, I’ve gone into this matter deeply with a helluva lot of defense lawyers. Many of them have NEVER defended a truly innocent person who fired in self-defense. Those who have done that sort of case generally agree with my advice, which is to establish a Five-Point Checklist of things right there at the shooting scene from the get-go.

Click thru for the video interview. It is about 12 minutes long so grab a coffee or your beverage of choice.

I had to go looking for the list, because it is not written out in the link above. Here is the list of 5 things, via How to Stay Out of Jail After a Justified Self-Defense Shooting:

[Massad Ayoob] gives a five point checklist for what exactly to say to police officers when they show up:

1. Point out the perpetrator to police
2. Tell police you will “Sign the Complaint”
3. Point out the evidence to police
4. Point out the witnesses to police
5. Tell the police you’ll cooperate with them fully in 24 hours after you’ve spoken with an attorney.

Both links are worth a look.