Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in California

Re: Handcuffed II

Sorry I left this out of my last response.

The police can detain anyone for up to 48 hours (not including weekends and holidays) for the flimsiest of reasons while they investigate possible criminal activity. They handcuffed you because people don't have warning labels; and in their eyes you could be intoxicated, wanted or crazy, thereby posing a possible danger to the officers.

You unnecessarily prolonged your detention because you didn't invoke your Miranda rights. You voluntarily agreed to sit there on the pavement in handcuffs and answer questions for half an hour instead of saying something like, "Sir, I have nothing to say to you without my attorney present, and I'd like to go home now." Miranda rights are only useful if you actually remain silent.

If you are charged with a crime based on the information you freely volunteered to the officers, your lawyer will jump up and down in court and complain that you weren't read your Miranda rights. This will occur subsequent to your being arrested and charged and your having paid thousands of dollars to some shyster like me. Then, a California hanging judge will rule that Miranda doesn't apply, or that you waived your rights, and that your confession (all statements are incriminating) is admissible. You will then be faced with the choice of pleading guilty, or paying additional thousands of dollars to appeal the judge's ruling admitting your statement. Hopefully you will have completed your sentence by the time the appeal is heard two years later.

Hopefully you will never join the ranks of the thousands of prisoners who each day wake up regretting not having kept their mouths shut.