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Friend is in trouble, possibly legal?
Bucketman
Call meSkraggRegistered User regular
Call meSkraggRegistered User regular
Hello H/A, I really had no idea who to ask about this, so I turn to you. A very good friend of mine had an awful wake up this morning, the police swarmed in on his house, guns drawn and seized all of his electronics. Appearently he was tagged due to an anonymous tip a year or two ago as possibly having illegal pornography (the creepy kind) they moved in because recently they noticed a spike in his web activity (he thinks it might be because he finally caved in and got Netflix) Took his X-Box, phone, computer, laptop, his fiancee's laptop, and his friends laptop. As well as his wallet, and some mail. Basically he has no idea what to do, he says hes innocent, and I'm inclined to believe him since I've known him awhile and hes just not that kind of person. He was just wondering, and I hope someone here can give insight, what steps he should take, and if he can demand his wallet, mail, and cell phone back, since he uses the latter for work all the time. Hes just freaked out by the whole ordeal and asked if any of us can try to drum up advice. So, any ideas? Thanks in advance.
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This is something that can absolutely DESTROY him, whether or not it is true. He needs to lawyer up like, yesterday.
Even to ask for his phone back.
This is wrong. LAWYER.
If he's hesitant, scare him with this:
your friend needs to lawyer up like yesterday.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
Yeah, if the police kicked his door in, they've already got something which they think makes him look guilty that they used to apply for a search warrant. They're currently in the process of digging through everything they took in the hopes that they'll find enough additional evidence which makes him look guilty so that the district attorney can indict him.
What I'm trying to get across here is that the S.S. Might Look Guilty left this harbor days ago. Once they've already applied for and executed the warrant, there is literally no point in your friend pursuing the "I've got nothing to hide" gambit because they're already in the process of digging through his life.
In short, he needs to get a lawyer ASAP, and not speak a word to anyone until he does.
This is a sex crime he's accused of. Prosecutors and sheriffs like these because they makes them look very good at reelection time and juries are very easy to sway when it's a literal think of the children case. Nearly every state with a sex offenders registry (which is probably every state by now) has had cases where people were convicted on basically no evidence, or where non-sex crimes were BS'ed into one. Hell, my own area had one that ruined an old man's life so badly that even after the prosecutor tried to drop charges, the man still plead guilty just to have a bed for the last few years of his life - the case had already cost him his home, car, and savings.
He needs to take this shit seriously, because A. the police sure as hell are and B. sex crime accusations have a way of ruining people's lives even when they turn out to be completely false.
If the president had any real power, he'd be able to live wherever the fuck he wanted.
disclaimer: I am not a lawyer
I happen to know someone who is not currently in jail and the only reason is because he got a lawyer asap who had experience dealing with cases of people freeloading on innocent peoples wifi for nefarious reasons.
If only because it'll be a fuck of a lot cheaper to post bail for your friend if he has someone explaining why he's not a flight risk at the arraignment.
Also, if he has a wireless network have him change the password on it. To something secure. Just in case there is some pervy neighbor that is the source of this problem.
The detective is almost certainly lying about whatever evidence he has. Tipping his hand now before he's got enough for an arrest would give your friend the time to come up with a narrative of events ("theory of the crime") which explains away the evidence, which would then make it harder for the detective to get a confession and information that would lead to other arrests connected with the pornography-related criminal activity in which your friend is alleged to have participated.
Make sure your friend understands that every second he spends without a lawyer, he is gambling with his livelihood, even if he is innocent. If you truly believe your friend is innocent and want to help him, don't give him a moments peace until he gets a lawyer. He might get mad at you, but he'll get over it when he realizes that your advice will have, and I mean this quite literally, saved his life.
Furthermore, if anyone gives him advice on what to do, except for him to get a lawyer, he shouldn't do it until he talks to a lawyer first, no matter how good it sounds. Following seemingly sound advice from well meaning but uninformed people can seriously hurt his chances in the long run.
Also, the police aren't stupid. If they have lots of evidence against your friend, they aren't going to tell him that. The more he knows, and the more serious things sound, the more likely it is that he will get scared, withdraw into his shell, and refuse to speak to them, and they don't want that. However, that's exactly what he needs to do.
They're not there to give him advice. They're not there to be his friend. They're there to arrest him. He needs to find a lawyer. Innocent or not.
LAWYER! LAWYER! LAWYER! LAWYER!
L
A
W
Y
E
R!
ACLU!
NOW
If the office is closed leave a damn message.
Now odds are the police are likely lying however, that is enough to establish probable cause and get a warrant. That's pretty much all they need. Getting a warrant isn't hard, I work with some guys who used to be PG County Sheriffs and they tell tails of the shitty evidence they've used to get a warrant, however having the evidence challenged during a suppression hearing is a different story. The bar to get a warrant is still pretty low though.
DON'T talk to neighbors about what they remember from that night.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
So if he asks you to hold onto anything or do him a favor of any sort, just ask yourself if you would be comfortable testifying about that "favor".
I only mention this because you never really know what a dude is jerking off to behind closed doors. You'd be surprised by what seemingly normal people hide in their "secret" porn folder
As someone who jerk off to weird shit, I attest to that. That however isn't a call to abandon him, just keep pressing the lawyer thing, and also, make sure he never makes "maybe it was someone stealing my wifi !!" statments, he should keep a "I have no idea why they broke into my house, they said some bullshit about child porn, but I honestly don't know what the fuck they're talking about" attitude without actually saying it. No talking without a lawyer, ever.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
I'm going to refrain from Internet-screaming "get a lawyer now!" at you in all caps because you're not the one dragging your heels on this, and I gather we've already convinced you that a lawyer is a necessity.
So here's the thing: he probably *can* afford to wait until Monday to hire an attorney, although there's a pretty serious risk inherent in any delay because he's assuming he's not going to be arrested between now and tomorrow morning. He can probably get a few different free consultations with a variety of defense attorneys if he's free and walking about; it's harder to be choosy when you're shopping for legal representation from a holding cell.
I'm taking for granted for the moment that your friend isn't guilty and has no expectation that he'll be arrested at any point, but he should keep in mind that we have an adversarial system of justice by design because we believe that a vigorous argument between two competing sides over an established set of facts will allow us to arrive at the truth most of the time. It's not the detective or the prosecutor's job to prove that your friend doesn't deserve to be locked away for the next several years, and they are currently doing everything they can so that they can kick in his door a second time and drag him away in handcuffs. The remedy to this in our system is your friend's due process rights and his right to legal representation. He *must* avail himself of those rights in order for the system to function properly. Sooner the better.
They dont have to ask him for those files or access information, if they know he has them there they just have to serve up dropbox the relevent legal paperwork to get them.
Then get it signed, witnessed, and leave a copy with his attorney.
edit: damn pronouns