Criminal Defense: Have you received a phone call from a detective looking to investigate a crime? Learn the ins and outs of why the detective is calling you and what he plans to do if you answer his questions. Don't risk being being taken advantage of or jeopardizing yourself in an effort to cooperate. What if you didn't do anything wrong? What if the detective is only calling because someone else lied about you? This video answers all your questions!

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Someone gets a call from a detective investigating a crime – should they call him back? What happens if they ignore the detective or refuse to talk? Will that look like they refused to cooperate? Is that bad?

Absolutely not! There is nothing to be ashamed of or worried about for not answering the detective’s questions. Every citizen has a 6th Amendment right to counsel and a 5th Amendment right not to answer a detective’s questions. What a person does NOT say will never be held against him. It is what that person DOES say that can be the problem.

What Can a Lawyer Do with a Detective That Matters? Can a Lawyer Stop the Detective?
Is now a good time to get a lawyer involved? What are the benefits? A good, experienced lawyer can do several things: first thing a lawyer can do is reach out to the detective and asking some probing questions to find out what exactly the detective knows and if it appears he has anything of substance against the person being investigated. If not, we know it is less likely an arrest warrant or criminal case is headed his way. It’s important to remember that under the law, anything a criminal lawyer says to the detective can NOT be held against the client. An attorney can be the mouthpiece and share all the evidence that would help show this person had nothing to do with this investigation and this could stop the investigation against him from moving forward.
Now, even if the detective was dead set on getting a warrant for arrest, it would be better to know that now so we could prepare him for how to handle the arrest warrant and make sure his bail bond situation was prepared ahead of time.

I had a client not long ago tell me “I think I’m going to go ahead and talk to the detective. I am already here and if I just tell him the truth, I will be safe, right? Wrong! I explained to him that the detective is likely calling him for one of two reasons: First, the detective already has enough facts in his mind to make up probable cause to get an arrest warrant and only wants him to confess to facts that makes the detective’s case stronger. Or, Secondly, the detective does not have enough facts to piece what happened together and needs his help to “put it all together” for him. Many times, detectives will say things like, “Hey man, I heard one side of the story, but I never got a chance to hear your side of the story. Why don’t you just share with me your side of the story and we can work all of this out and move on with our lives.” Unfortunately, that is not at all what the detective would have had planned for him if he walked into the Fort Worth Police Department to answer the detective’s questions.

Unfortunately, if my client had trusted this detective and walked into the Fort Worth Police Department, he would have been subjected to an interrogation. I explained to my client that the detective would never have let him “tell his side of the story.” Detectives are many times trained to interrogate witnesses to say anything that will match up with what they already have as evidence to make their evidence appear to be more credible. Additionally, I explained to him that even if he had tried to explain innocent facts that would clear up the situation, he could not trust that the detective would not misunderstand or perceive his facts to back up the detective’s theory of what happened.
It is important to remember that everything you say to the detective will be used against you. Everything! The detective is looking to use anything he says against him, even if what was said was not what he meant. Once he said it, who do you think the prosecutor and judge will believe – John or a detective?

0:00 Phone Call From a Detective?
02:20 Detective Is Calling You Because He Believes You Did It!
02:42 Detective Is Calling Because He Has Nothing!
03:35 Don’t Let Detective Interrogate You!