BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
A few years ago, I was fortunate to get a fellowship to Loyola’s Journalism Law School in Los Angeles.
In one of the training sessions, Maureen Pacheco, an associate professor of law with the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, said the center’s lawyers hand out these cards to juvenile clients in case they are arrested by the police or questioned by prosecutors.
The card states: “Please Call My Lawyer Immediately” and instructs the person who the card is given to call the lawyer whose name and phone number appears on the card.
It cites California law, and states: “Under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, I am invoking my right not to talk to anyone about any criminal matter without my attorney present.
“I do not wish to answer questions without speaking to my attorney first. I will not consent to any search or submit to any test until I have spoken to my attorney.”
I didn’t understand the complexity and importance of these statements, and how it applies to the guilty along with the innocent until I saw a video, which is nearly 50 minutes long, by a law professor who was also a former criminal defense lawyer.
The video is titled: “Why I am Proud to Admit That I Will Never Talk to Any Police Officer.”
It is eye-opening stuff and extremely educational. The professor cites cases of people, including those of innocent persons, who didn’t heed this warning along with quotes by Supreme Court justices supporting what this professor is saying to his students.
Here is the video: