Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Talking to a law enforcement officer after being arrested is always optional in the United States due the 5th amendment and its WI Constitution equivalent. Therefore, any time that one feels a lie to law enforcement about to pass from one's lips, one would be far better offer relying upon one's right not to speak at all and instead make that decision much later, after speaking with an experienced criminal lawyer. Unfortunately, once one does speak, it becomes extremely difficult to put that Genie back into the bottle; anything which was said will usually be taken down and used against you, and the authorities are likely to be highly skeptical of any attempt to retract that statement later and replace it with a different version of the "truth." However, you always have the right to let a jury make the final decision as to which time you were telling the truth. The judge, however, will no doubt give the jury an instruction known in Latin as "Falsus en uno," loosely summarized as authorizing the jury to find that if one thing which you said is false, then it is free to conclude that everything you say is false. That also pretty well sums up the likely attitude of law enforcement, including the prosecution, to your attempting retraction. It would likely help your cause if the guilty party came forward and admitted his or her guilt, but not even this would be binding upon the judge or the jury. Even the falsus en uno instruction in not binding upon the jury; they would be free to believe you if they found you to be more credible the second time around. Juries also always have a right of "jury nullification" of any arrest or law upon which an arrest is based. Although lawyers are not allowed to ask for it, "jury nullification" allows a jury to acquit anyone at any time without legal justification and no duty to explain their decision. Therefore, if you even had one juror who thought, as many people do these days, that the modern day version of prohibition, also known as the "war on drugs" is a huge waste of law enforcement effort, there is always the chance of being found not guilty or at least of a mistrial and second try for an acquittal. Even a mistrial is likely to result in a better plea offer from the prosecution. Please be aware that my responses to you in the public web forum do not make me your attorney and that I am not representing you or taking any action on your case. These answers are intended for public educational use only and may contain lawyer advertising materials. Regardless of this, however, you are still welcome to contact me during business hours at my in Racine if you still have questions.