Lawyer Talk Q&A - Investigative Minefield

The question of the day. And it's sort of ironic because I haven't even published the last question yet, and it had to do with should I talk to the police when I've been either under investigation or the police are knocking at your door?And this question I received yesterday up in the law firm, and it had to do more broadly, I suppose, with the general investigative stages of a case. And so often I get calls like this where somebody is under investigation, and it just seems probably not coincidentally, but for good reason, it seems that there's a lot of folks who deal with this while they're under investigation for an alleged sex offense, say, like an acquaintance sexual assault where two folks hooked up and maybe the other is claiming that it wasn't so consensual.So the scenario is basically this you're under investigation for a crime was just for purposes of this discussion say it's an alleged acquaintance rape, and the police want to talk to you and you know the case isWhat do we do? There's no right answer here that fits all. There's no cookie cutter response. We take every case individually and analyze it and assess it and decide the best course of action.And this is an important part of what I do. I think this is an important part of any criminal defense strategy is that you can't just follow the textbook all the time, because every situation is a little bit unique. Every situation has its own nuance, and every situation needs its own unique solution. So this is really how it feels. When you're under investigation, the natural reaction is "I got to do something.""I want to do something." But the problem is you may not know where the mines are. You don't know how big the minefield is. You don't know, even necessarily who the person on the other side who put the mines there, who that is. There's too many variables and unknown.Got a question you want answered on the podcast? Call 614-859-2119 and leave us a voicemail. Steve will answer your question on the next podcast!Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511, a production of 511 South High Media LLC.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicle homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Yavitch & Palmer Co., L.P.A.