I’m harmless. What I say can’t damage, proper?
You might assume what you say received’t damage you in case you are harmless or don’t confess to a criminal offense. That perception is commonly false.
For instance, you inform the police you bear in mind going to a hockey recreation the day earlier than attending the station. Such a remark may appear innocent. Two years later, your case goes to trial, and also you testify. The prosecutor asks you what you probably did the day earlier than you spoke to the police. You say one thing fully totally different. Misremembering could be a standard results of time passing. However at a trial, you don’t resolve what regular is. Each phrase you utter to the police is a doable inconsistency sooner or later. How the judge or jury views that inconsistency is lower than you.
One other downside I encounter steadily is that non-lawyers don’t at all times know that sure actions are crimes. Contemplate this state of affairs. P will get right into a struggle and breaks the opposite individual’s jaw. He tells the police that he unleashed an uppercut as a result of the opposite individual needed to struggle. P has simply admitted to assault as a result of the regulation doesn’t permit consent to bodily hurt. Punching somebody within the face, even when they ask for it, and injuring them within the course of is a criminal offense. Frequent sense and the regulation typically differ.