It’s a situation that nobody wants to be found in, but whether it’s through a complete mix-up or something else, absolutely any person can become involved in litigation issues. It can happen in a high-profile case in New York, NY, or in a lesser-known one in the complete opposite side of the world.
When it does happen, it would be fair to say that you need to know the criminal defense process inside-out. As the title may have already given away, this is something that Joe Tacopina knows all about. He is an attorney based in New York, NY and to say that he has a sterling reputation in the litigation industry would be a gross understatement.
Something that Tacopina has found throughout his career as a lawyer is that a lot of misinformation is published about criminal defense law. This is the reason behind today’s post, and we will now take a look at some of the biggest myths that tend to be released about it.
“If the police don’t read your rights, the case can be dismissed”
Once upon a time, this might have been something that was correct. Now, it isn’t the case in the slightest. Unfortunately for those who are attempting to be declared innocent, case law dictates that this no longer matters. Even if you made a statement, that was ultimately used to incriminate you, during your custodial interrogation, this is irrelevant. The state can, and will, use this against you.
“There are loopholes around spousal testimony privilege”
When some people hear about spousal testimony privilege they tend to rub their hands together. Unfortunately for them, again, this isn’t as easy as the name might suggest.
Firstly, spousal testimony privilege is something that sits within the person testifying. In other words, if you are the defendant, there is nothing stopping your spouse testifying against you. If they don’t want to, they can most certainly rely on this privilege, but there is another matter to contend with.
This other matter comes in the form of when the couple were married. There have been cases of people attempting to marry, just so a spouse would not be able to testify against the defendant in question. However, this is a privilege which is usually only applicable when it is relied on during a marriage – not before it. This is one reason why Joe Tacopina strongly advises against going down this route, unless it is for a completely legitimate reason.
“The police are not allowed to lie during interrogations”
Whether it’s from the movies or elsewhere, we won’t speculate. You should be under no illusions about the police though, and using this as a criminal defense mechanism is not advised at all.
In short, the police can lie. They can lie if they are acting as an undercover officer, or they can lie in relation to the evidence that they might have available to them. Just because they are law enforcement, doesn’t mean to say that they have to play by the book. Of course, some tactics are plainly not allowed, but lying doesn’t tend to fall into this category.
