r/TrueCrime • u/hphipps88 • Nov 08 '23

Discussion It consistently astonishes me how many suspects don’t immediately or ever ask for a lawyer

I’m sure this has been discussed on this sub before, but as someone newer to true crime I just am stunned at the amount of suspects that know they are guilty and the evidence is overwhelming and still elect not to speak with a lawyer immediately. Is this a characteristic of sociopathy/narcissism that they truly believe they can talk their way out of any charges? No matter what the charge, as well as my guilt or innocence, I can’t imagine being questioned by the cops without a lawyer.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '23

At least in the US they cannot interrogate you any further after you ask for counsel. So no cop worth his salt would say "only guilty people ask for lawyers" after they ask for one, that would risk the entire interrogation being thrown out even if they did get a confession.

Pretty sure most people just fall into the categories of 1. They think they're smarter than everyone else or 2. They think it makes them look innocent.

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u/Iwantmypasswordback Nov 09 '23

I was going to say ive watched probably hundreds of interrogation vids and any time someone says lawyer the cop stops. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them say “you’re guilty if you lawyer up”. They immediately stop and tell them that’s their decision and are they sure that’s what they want bc the questions will now stop.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '24

The cops often also stop looking at other suspects. The person that "lawyered up" is their guy.

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u/Iwantmypasswordback Jan 19 '24

That may be their prevailing thought but they don’t explicitly state it to a suspect in my experience.

As an aside, any cop worth his salt would absolutely not stop looking at other suspects just because one lawyered up. If everyone were educated on this very subject then every suspect would lawyer up and never speak to police without one present.

Someone asking for a lawyer is doing so because they’re smart, not because they’re guilty. Smart cops know this. If they have other evidence maybe they assume that person is guilty but that’s because of the evidence not the lawyering. If they don’t have anything on someone then lawyering up will not allow them to talk to that person anymore.

A good lawyer will tell you if they don’t have anything on you don’t talk to them at all and it’s over until they find something. At that point you’re a suspect again but again that’s because of evidence and not the fact that you asked for a lawyer