What's the number one thing you need to know after a self-defense? Shoot. Just shut up. Hey everybody, my name is Mark Victor, owner and founder of the Attorneys for Freedom Law Firm. I've been practicing criminal defense law and representing people in gun cases for 30 years. Don't screw up your case. Let me start by saying it's really hard to give general advice that applies to every conceivable situation after a self-defense shoot. If you knew all of the gun related cases that I could have gotten people out of or a better result at the end, if they had just kept their mouth shut, you wouldn't even be thinking about making a statement to the police. Now, most of the people who say make a limited statement to the police, they assume that you're in a good shoot. You might be in a good shoot. You might not be in a good shoot.
If you're in a good shoot, you probably don't need to say anything. There's a pretty good chance you won't be charged. Or even if you are charged, we can get that case dropped. We've done this on many occasions, but if it's a questionable shoot or a bad shoot, you're not going to say anything that's going to help yourself out. Keep your mouth shut. There are many different reasons for this. First off, if the police officer is reading you your Miranda warnings, keep in mind they don't have to read these to you unless they're already putting you under arrest and interrogating you. That means they think you're in a bad shoot. So if they're reading those warnings to you, take that as a reminder of my advice to keep your mouth shut. Don't forget about what the Miranda warnings actually are. Anything you say will be used.
How do you think it's going to be used against you? That's how it's used, and some of us more seasoned criminal defense lawyers might say Anything you say and some stuff you didn't even say will be used against you. Okay? First point, the fact that you remain silent is not going to be used against you. It can't be used to arrest you. It can't be used to charge you, and it can't be used to convict you in court. Not only that, but judges often give juries instructions that they can't even make a negative inference from the fact that defendant didn't make a statement. They have a right, a constitutional right to not make a statement. If the prosecutor comments on the fact that the defendant didn't make a statement at the scene, that can be grounds for a mistrial. I know some of you are worried that if you remain silent that silence will be used against you.
It's not going to be used against you. There's a rule in the United States and every state in the nation, your silence is not used against you. It's not admissible in court. So if you go to trial, the prosecutor is not going to ask the police officer when they're on the stand, tell us what happened, and then have the police officer say, I asked the defendant what happened, and the defendant said, I got nothing to say. I want my lawyer. Okay, that's not going to happen. Nor is it a reason to arrest you or a reason to charge you. Your silence is really not used against you, not in court, not to arrest and not to charge. No downside of keeping your mouth shut. The next point, when you make a statement at the scene, you've just declared a legal theory. Don't do that. Let your lawyer decide what the legal theory of your defense is going to be.
Some people think, what's the harm in saying, I was in fear for my life? There could be harm in that. You've just limited your legal theory to I shot because I was in fear for my life. Now, you're stuck with that if that's what you said at the scene. But what if there's a defense out there that maybe you shot because you were protecting a third party or maybe there was another reason you could shoot? In some states, including Arizona, where I practice often, there are other reasons you can shoot a human being besides being in fear for your life. If you make that statement at the scene, you've just declared your legal theory of the case and you're stuck with it, why do that? Let the lawyer decide what the legal theory should be. Keep your mouth shut. The next point you think after a self-defense shoot, when the cops have showed up and now you've got all this stress going on, that's a good time to be making a detailed statement.
Every word of which will be used against you later on, maybe a year or two years down the road, bad time to be making a statement. You're going to be under stress, heavy stress, maybe post-traumatic stress disorder. You might be worried about the police. You might be worried about evidence or other witnesses, what they might say. Terrible time to be making statements. You might get something wrong. You could say something wrong by accident. You could leave out important facts if you do that later on, if you wind up at trial, the prosecutor is going to pick you apart on that statement you made at the scene. The next point, even if you do make a statement, it could be recorded incorrectly. You really want to take a chance that any statement you make might be written down incorrectly. Plus, if you make a statement, maybe that statement will be recorded on an officer's body cam or some kind of a recording device.
Maybe not. The officer may just simply be writing down that statement. How do you know that the officer's going to accurately write down what you've said? Officers make mistakes. I've had many cases when the officer has written down the statement incorrectly, how do I know about that? Because in addition to the written statement, there's been a recorded statement that doesn't jive with the written statement. Do you really want to trust maybe years or decades of your life to the accuracy of some police officer writing down a statement? What if you are misunderstood because maybe you didn't speak so precisely. There are many problems with making a statement. How do you avoid this? Just shut up. Final point. Lying police officers. Look, in my experience, three decades worth, most police officers are pretty good. They do their best to follow the law. They're trying to be honest.
Some of them aren't. We have police officers in prison in our country. You don't know who's going to show up to that scene to take your statements. Some police officers have told me, Hey Mark, I don't think citizens should have guns. What if you get one of those police officers who shows up to take your statement? Do you really want to trust your statement to what could be a very dishonest police officer? I'm not trusting years or maybe decades of my freedom to the honesty or dishonesty of some police officer who I don't know anything about. Like I said, we can't have general advice that applies to every possible situation, and there are definitely some exceptions. The dreaded 9 1 1 call, right? If you call your lawyer before you call 9 1 1, that will be admissible against you at your trial. Don't do that. Plus, you know what your lawyer's going to say.
If you're calling a good lawyer, the lawyer's going to say, just shut up. But if you got to call 9 1 1 to report somebody's injured, first order of business should be, find somebody else to call 9 1 1 so you don't have to make a statement. What should they say? They should say, Hey, 9 1 1, there's been a shooting. Please send medical attention. Here's the address. Goodbye. You might add to that if it's true, the firearms are all secure, there's no risk at the scene. Everybody will be maybe outside with hands up or something like that because your goal at this point is not to get shot when the police officer shows up. So if you've got to call 9 1 1, there's nobody else who can do this same order of business. Hello, 9 1 1. There's been a shooting. Someone's down. Please send help. Here's the address if it's accurate, because it may not be that person may be on the ground still rolling around.
You want to make the scene safe as possible. If you can say, all of the firearms involved have been unloaded and are now made safe, that's great. And then your plan is don't get shot. Do not present as a threat. When those officers show up, they don't know who's the good guy and who's the bad guy. Again, to be fair, there can be slight variations on this advice. This is very general advice. If you actually are in a shooting best to call an attorney immediately, our law firm is available 24 7 365, and if you think ahead of time, you might check out the Attorneys on retainer program. That way you're already a client of the firm. You have access to our 24 7 365 hotline and my of lawyers who like to try cases and who aggressively and professionally represent people routinely in gun cases. For more information on the attorney's on retainer program, what we think is the very best program, if what you are concerned about is being able to afford a lawyer in many other expenses after a self-defense shoot, check out attorneys on retainer us.
Everything you want to know about the Attorneys on retainer program and how it stacks up to those other insurance driven type programs is right there for you to check out. You can also sign up online. Just takes a few minutes real easy. So if you want to learn more about our law firm, and I hope you do, check us out, attorneys for freedom.com. It's not just a fancy name. We're actually attorneys who believe in freedom on all issues. If you like this video, like subscribe. If you got comments, good or bad, if you bring it civilized, you will get a response back from us. My name is Mark Victor, owner and founder of the Attorneys for Freedom Law Firm. Thanks for listening. Peace.
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Credit: Marc J. Victor, Attorney’s on Retainer