Advice On Arrest And Legal Procedures

[MolotovLuv]

I was recently at a counter-demonstration against an organization in my area who wants to join the minutemen and was arrested. I was never given my miranda rights or told what I was being arrested for nor did I ever consent to a search which they did anyways before shoving me in a squad car and sticking me in a holding cell for hours. My trial will be coming up and I want to arm myself with knowledge of my legal rights that I believe were violated. If anybody has any advice or good information online on defending myself against cops with obvious motives it would be much appreciated comrades.

[rioters bloc]

hey there

what area are you in? if it's nsw australia (long shot i know :P) i can help you out, otherwise all i can advise is seeking legal aid (if you have it in your country, and if you're eligible) or getting in touch with civil liberties organisations who usually have solictitors who are willing to take on cases pro bono.

[MolotovLuv]

Thanks comrade, I live in CA in the U.S. unfotunatly. Hopefully I'm getting in touch with the National Lawyers Guild and they'll help me out because i'm broke. Should I try to speak to a lawyer before my scheduled court date? I wrote a statement so I could jot down as many details as I could remember and I have requested a police report. Anything else I should do? I'm also contemplating a press conference but that's definatly something I want to do after I speak to a lawyer. Has anybody else had a trial where they were not given their miranda rights or even told why they were being arrested? I'm worried there's some stipulation out there I havn't read that allows this but i'm pretty sure they are required to read em to you before they process and detain you right? This is my first time dealing with this and i'm sure not my last so thanks for the help! :)

[loveme4whoiam]

Go to your local bookshop (big one obviously) and try to find a book on police procedure or something similar. A girl I work with did the same when two policemen busted into her house and conducted an illegal search, which led to her boyfriend being arrested for possessing a minute amount of cannabis. After reading for a bit she managed to find a fair few sections which the policemen had totally violated, and is in the process of complaining to some board or other.

That would be my small advice - good luck with the trial, hope you can get a solution that doesn't screw you over.

[Whitten]

Out of curiosity what charges are you facing, and what sotr of sentence (fine?). And if you think you cna answer this, did you do it?

[rioters bloc]

Originally posted by [email protected] 18 2006, 07:07 AM
Thanks comrade, I live in CA in the U.S. unfotunatly. Hopefully I'm getting in touch with the National Lawyers Guild and they'll help me out because i'm broke. Should I try to speak to a lawyer before my scheduled court date? I wrote a statement so I could jot down as many details as I could remember and I have requested a police report. Anything else I should do? I'm also contemplating a press conference but that's definatly something I want to do after I speak to a lawyer. Has anybody else had a trial where they were not given their miranda rights or even told why they were being arrested? I'm worried there's some stipulation out there I havn't read that allows this but i'm pretty sure they are required to read em to you before they process and detain you right? This is my first time dealing with this and i'm sure not my last so thanks for the help! :)
i'm not entirely sure how different it is in the US so dunno how much help this will be :(

but this is how my trial has progressed so far

i got a court attendance notice, which specified a time and place for me to appear. i also got sent a 'fact sheet', which is basically a brief compilation of their version of events. it's pretty much just to outline why you've been charged.

next, the cops have to provide a full brief - so all their witness statements and who theyre going to call up to the stand. if you can't find a lawyer yet, it's fine - you'll only really need one after they've given you their brief. cos then you need to start formulating defences.

what you can ask your lawyer to do is write a representation, which is basically a letter to the prosecutor stating why the charges should be dropped (theyre never gonna win, waste of resources, etc). if they don't, you need to start gathering evidence and statements to support your defence.

that's as far as i've gotten and obviously it will differ for you but hope it helps somewhat :)

press conference is probably not a good idea but you have a better idea of how serious these charges are.

i personally was not given my rights or told what i was being charged with til i was in a holding cell, but they lied in their statements and said they had told me - my word against theirs :/ unfortunately unless you have proof that they didn't i dunno how much it will help you, as they'll lie.

theoretically though, if they dont read you your rights and stuff the arrest is illegal, and it's much harder for them to arrest you again.

[rioters bloc]

also - don't worry too much if it takes you a while to find a decent lawyer and evidence.

mine has been dragging on for 4 months now and we haven&#39;t even gone to trial yet <_<

i dunno how slow the us justice system is, but if it&#39;s anything like ours, you can afford to chill out a bit :P

[MolotovLuv]

Originally posted by [email protected] 18 2006, 01:40 PM
Out of curiosity what charges are you facing, and what sotr of sentence (fine?). And if you think you cna answer this, did you do it?
I suppose i&#39;m being charged with petty theft. Here&#39;s my brief explanation, I was at a counter-protest against some racists that want to join the minutemen in building a wall on the border etc. etc. (their website is East Bay Coalition for Border Security (http://www.eastbaycoalitionforbordersecurity.com/)) From the moment I got there I noticed their hostility towards us was more than in previous weeks, a woman even came through our spot and started ripping signs out of people&#39;s hands and getting in their face. One of the leaders of the opposition group was blowing an air horn in people&#39;s faces and ears. There was a fairly large group of us behind him and someone reached up and knocked the air horn out of his hand. We kicked it away from him and he got very upset saying I "stole" his airhorn after I had picked it up off the ground. I wasn&#39;t about to give it back to his ass and people were standing in between me and them so he couldn&#39;t pounce on me so I smashed the airhorn and started to leave the area. I heard sirens behind me and stopped (I wasn&#39;t about to try to flee two motorcycle cops in an open parking lot.) They asked for my ID, I didn&#39;t have one so one of them immediatly started searching me. I told him I didn&#39;t give him consent to search and he grabbed me by the neck, putting pressure on it and basically threatened me into shutting up. They threw me in a sqaud car, which drove me around until the croud was dispersed and brought me back. No investigation, no miranda rights, no explanations. Just going on the word of the minutemen in training I was detained for hours until they finally set me free at midnight. Unfortunatly, while the pigs were wasting their time with me they ignored the real violence of the east bay coalition. Here is some information on what happened: Counter-Protest in Fremont gets nasty (http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/17/18288876.php)

[Sadena Meti]

Go and get a free public defender, this should be an easy case.

Your first hearing is meaningless, basically they read the charge, present a rough outline to justify the charge (this is usually skipped because it is pointless to argue at this stage), you enter a plea, new date is assigned.

Don&#39;t bother making a statement or trying to get political. Easier to work the system, then make a fuss once they can&#39;t touch you.

Now, refusing to give the air horn back could be called depriving property, but I think you are going to be fine because he was using it to harass. Look up noise ordinances. Look up assault ordinances. If I came up to you, put an airhorn to your ear and deafened you, I&#39;d be arrested for assault.

So stick to this argument. He dropped it, you recovered it, you refused to return it "in order to prevent a crime, assault, etc." A public defender should be able to get this dismissed, no problem.

Don&#39;t bother arguing Terry or Miranda, or involuntary search. You were visibility in posession of another&#39;s property, that&#39;s enough to have reasonable evidence to search you without permission. Once the whole thing is over, file a complaint against the arresting officer for not following Miranda. Has no effect on your case, but it&#39;s a bit of revenge.

Stick with the "my actions were taken to prevent him from harassing and injuring people with the air horn". Don&#39;t get indignant, say as little as possible, be respectful to the judge. Work the system, then once you&#39;re clear, raise hell.

Also, when the charges are dismissed, before you leave the court, ask for the arrest record to be voided. Leave your record spotless.

[Whitten]

From your story you said there was a crowd of you. Get one or two to serve as witnesses and make statements and you should be as good as free

[MolotovLuv]

Thanks everyone, I still feel very strongly they didn&#39;t have the right to start searching me but maybe i&#39;m wrong about police procedure, i&#39;m definatly going to be doing a bit of study on this. I&#39;ll do my best to be good for now so I don&#39;t get in trouble before my court date but it&#39;s difficult :mellow: