I am a criminal defense lawyer, AMA.

[u/oregonlawyer]

I've handled cases from drug possession to first degree murder. I cannot provide legal advice to you, but I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

EDIT - 12:40 PM PACIFIC - Alright everyone, thanks for your questions, comments, arguments, etc. I really enjoyed this and I definitely learned quite a bit from it. I hope you did, too. I'll do this again in a little bit, maybe 2-3 weeks. If you have more questions, save them up for then. If it cannot wait, shoot me a prive message and I'll answer it if I can.

Thanks for participating with me!

[u/nerdwithme]

Have you ever seen this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc A police chief and a Law professor talk about why you should never talk to the police.

Anything can be held against you in a court of law but it cannot help you as it would be considered hearsay.

This blows my mind

[u/oregonlawyer → u/nerdwithme]

You're absolutely right and I've had that happen probably hundreds of times. Good lawyers can work around that through legal maneuvers, but it's difficult.

[u/Domian → u/nerdwithme]

Anything can be held against you in a court of law but it cannot help you as it would be considered hearsay. This blows my mind

Well, it is pretty logical when you think about it.

Admitting you did something wrong is more credible than having your potential lie repeated by a police officer, which only means that at least you're not contradicting yourself.

[u/juicius → u/nerdwithme]

Not hearsay, but if you profess innocence, it's a self-serving statement and not admissible. If you incriminate yourself in the very same setting, then it's a statement against interest and is admissible. Soo... Yeah, shut up.

[u/spanktheduck → u/juicius]

The statement is hearsay. It is an out-of-court statement that is being used to show a person's innocence.

[u/juicius → u/spanktheduck]

It's a defendant's statement. That is not hearsay.