Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Mississippi

This past weekend there was evidently a burgalry in my neighborhood. Detectives tracked me down from my license plate reported at 3am in the area. My daughter was in the car at that time with a friend leaving another house to go sleep at her friends house. They said she is considered suspicious character. Yesterday they pulled her over in the day and had her go to headquarters where they took her fingerprints and general info. They did not charge her andwoouldn't tell her anything about the incident. My question is, What right do these guys have to treat her like a criminal when she is oblivious to what's going on? She is very naive and only 19 years old.


Asked on 7/01/10, 10:35 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

The police obviously consider her a suspect. There seems to be at least some reason for their suspicion, since she was out and about in the area very late on the night of the robbery. There may be additional reasons that you don't know about, even if she's actually innocent.

Your daughter's relative youth is irrelevant. She's more than old enough to commit a burglary. Many such crimes are committed by teenagers. If their age prevented the police from investigating and questioning them, then their crimes would never be solved and the guilty ones would never be punished.

The police do not have to believe your daughter is "oblivious to what's going on", even if you believe it with all your heart. Hopefully you're right. You probably are. Most parents who have such opinions of their children are right, but some aren't. Many young criminals have parents who firmly believed their children would never break the law until -- or even after -- they were confronted with proof. I hope that won't happen to you.

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Answered on 7/01/10, 2:10 pm


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