> This is, as I ubderstand it, incorrect on multiple levels. First, all you need to do is shut up to exercise the right.
Incorrect. The police can continue interrogation if you sit quietly.
Also, it’s possible to revoke your assertion of the 5th after you have invoked it. If the police say you did, and you say you didn’t, who do you think the courts will believe?
As such, most legal advice I have heard is to simply say “I am not speaking until I get a lawyer.” It is unambiguous during interrogation, and it’ll stand up well during any suppression hearings.
> Second, no matter how you frame exercising the right, police can and will treat it as suspicious.
“You can beat the time but you can’t beat the ride.”
If you are in a position where you are invoking these rights you are already considered suspicious. You may be arrested. You might be tried. But keep your eye on the prize: your goal is to not get convicted.
Incorrect. The police can continue interrogation if you sit quietly.
Also, it’s possible to revoke your assertion of the 5th after you have invoked it. If the police say you did, and you say you didn’t, who do you think the courts will believe?
As such, most legal advice I have heard is to simply say “I am not speaking until I get a lawyer.” It is unambiguous during interrogation, and it’ll stand up well during any suppression hearings.
> Second, no matter how you frame exercising the right, police can and will treat it as suspicious.
“You can beat the time but you can’t beat the ride.”
If you are in a position where you are invoking these rights you are already considered suspicious. You may be arrested. You might be tried. But keep your eye on the prize: your goal is to not get convicted.