Law Learner
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Florida
Last night, the local bank was robbed. The police couldn't get the robbery. Surveillance camera footage didn't help and the police didn't find other evidences. They could only guess the robber was someone who was familiar with the bank's operations based on what happened.
The police had several suspects including Mr. Frog (say he was an ex-employee of the bank and he is having financial issues). So they approached him and asked about his whereabouts last night. Mr. Frog was not the robber, but he was doing something illegal with some of his buddies the night before.
Mr. Frog thought that the police would not know about those buddies and would not get to them on the robbery incident. Answering the police's question truthfully would be problematic for Mr. Frog. But lying about it would have risks as well (e.g. what if the other illegal activity was later found out). So Mr. Frog thought it would be best for him to refuse to answer the police's questions.
Questions:
1) Can the police arrest him at his house for not answering their questions ?
2) If the police want him to come to the police station for an "interview", can Mr. Frog be arrested if he refuses to come ?
3) If Mr. Frog asks to speak to a lawyer first (which wouldn't happen at the same time of the police's visit, can the police refuse it and arrest him ? And if after talking to the lawyer, he still remains silent (following the lawyer's advice - hypothesis), can the police arrest him ?
4) If the police arrest him, Mr. Frog would be protected by the fifth amendment. In this case, what can the police do next if they cannot find other evidences/testimonies against Mr. Frog, and by law, they cannot use the fact that he did not answer questions against him.
Thanks for your clarification. As you can guess, this is just a fictitious story for the sake of understanding "The right to remain silent".
The police had several suspects including Mr. Frog (say he was an ex-employee of the bank and he is having financial issues). So they approached him and asked about his whereabouts last night. Mr. Frog was not the robber, but he was doing something illegal with some of his buddies the night before.
Mr. Frog thought that the police would not know about those buddies and would not get to them on the robbery incident. Answering the police's question truthfully would be problematic for Mr. Frog. But lying about it would have risks as well (e.g. what if the other illegal activity was later found out). So Mr. Frog thought it would be best for him to refuse to answer the police's questions.
Questions:
1) Can the police arrest him at his house for not answering their questions ?
2) If the police want him to come to the police station for an "interview", can Mr. Frog be arrested if he refuses to come ?
3) If Mr. Frog asks to speak to a lawyer first (which wouldn't happen at the same time of the police's visit, can the police refuse it and arrest him ? And if after talking to the lawyer, he still remains silent (following the lawyer's advice - hypothesis), can the police arrest him ?
4) If the police arrest him, Mr. Frog would be protected by the fifth amendment. In this case, what can the police do next if they cannot find other evidences/testimonies against Mr. Frog, and by law, they cannot use the fact that he did not answer questions against him.
Thanks for your clarification. As you can guess, this is just a fictitious story for the sake of understanding "The right to remain silent".
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