How To Set Someone Up To Be Arrested

Allow'south say someone'south mad at y'all and would love to encounter you get arrested. How much would it take to bring cops to your door?

Turns out, not much.

I'll requite yous an example.  Yous're feuding with cousins and siblings about the probate of your late uncle's volition, which one cousin, Sandy, controls.  You don't similar how Sandy is treatment the probate administration — she's dragging her feet on distribution of the money — and she's pissed at you for bugging her about information technology.  Then she calls the police and reports that yous screamed at her on the phone, commanding that she'd ameliorate go things moving "or else."

The "or else" makes the call a threat.  And then, because the threat is between cousins, information technology's considered a domestic violence example, which automatically shoots it to the head of the line in police priorities.  So even if you're a lx-year-old guy with no arrest tape who collects antiques for a living, the constabulary volition evidence upward at your door and put you through the entire arrest procedure — booking, prints, mug shot, and sometimes an overnight in jail — and so take you in cuffs to see the judge in whatever county Sandy made the complaint.  In short, all this, because i person with an ax to grind felt similar getting you in trouble.

Now if that same person signs an affidavit swearing to the facts she told police, a prosecutor gets assigned and the case becomes a misdemeanor or worse, based on Sandy's word alone.

There'due south no record recording of the call, no witness to approve it, no video.  Sandy's report was all information technology took to get y'all arrested, brought to court in cuffs, and put through months of a criminal process that will first with an "order of protection" being issued against you. And that guild gives Sandy incredible leverage.  It orders you non to accept whatsoever further contact with her past phone, e-mail, text, or through third parties (for case, whatever other cousins) except your lawyer.  Now if she calls police to complain that you contacted her, fifty-fifty if she'due south lying, y'all'll become arrested once again and the case against yous becomes a felony.  How is this off-white?

One of the most frequent questions I get from clients is, how can I be prosecuted based on 1 person'due south word against me?  They say, "I desire to hear the phone recording, see the video, hear the proof." But, guess what, there may exist none, and very seldom does any intermediary party such every bit a judge or prosecutor want to decide if Sandy is telling the truth, unless there's some obvious inconsistencies that refute her claim.  (Such as that yous were out of the country and in the jungles of Borneo where you couldn't possibly have chosen her.)  The task of determining whether Sandy'southward believable plenty to get you convicted is up to a jury.

Here'southward how it works: Every bit many prosecutors say in their summations, crime is frequently washed when there's nobody around except for the victim and the attacker.  If proof beyond a reasonable incertitude depended on the word of more just the victim, and then most crime street criminal offence would non become prosecuted.  At a trial, the estimate will instruct the jurors that it's not the number of witnesses that count, but the quality of their testimony.  1 witness could exist believable enough to become you bedevilled without further corroboration.

The exception to this rule is when the only witness is a co-conspirator or co-defendant — then, at to the lowest degree in New York Country, you do need further corroboration.  For example, if two people rob an apartment — no ane sees them and in that location's no video — the second guy cannot be convicted on the word of the beginning guy lone.

Interestingly, however, the 2d guy could exist convicted based on his own confession, lone. So permit'due south say the 2nd guy gets arrested one year after the start guy, who's already pleaded guilty, been sentenced, and ratted on the 2nd guy.  However, the 2nd guy, when arrested, makes a total confession.  Although prosecutors can't employ the commencement guy's ratting-out of the 2nd guy at the trial (unless that first guy testifies in the flesh), prosecutors can use the second guy'south confession in its entirety (if the judge and jury discover it was fabricated voluntarily) to win a conviction without anything else.

In our age of the proliferation of cop shows and their focus on forensics — Dna, blood stains, fingerprints, video, etc. — many of my clients (and I'm including even the educated ones) can't believe they tin exist convicted on one person'southward discussion alone.

But approximate what, yous can.  That's why the skill of your attorney in cross-examining that one witness is paramount.  That's your just shot at disarming a jury that Sandy should exist scrutinized closely and that her give-and-take alone does not equal proof across a reasonable doubt.

---

Toni Messina has been practicing criminal defence police force since 1990, although during law school she spent 1 summer as an intern in a large Boston law firm and realized quickly it wasn't for her. Prior to attending constabulary school, she worked every bit a journalist from Rome, Italian republic, reporting stories of international interest for CBS News and NPR. She keeps sane by balancing her police force practice with a family of 3 children, playing in a BossaNova band, and dancing flamenco. She tin can be reached by e-mail at tonimessinalw@gmail.com or tonimessinalaw.com, and y'all can also follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.

How To Set Someone Up To Be Arrested,

Source: https://abovethelaw.com/2016/10/its-easy-to-get-arrested/

Posted by: griffinhomplasson83.blogspot.com

Share this post