WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prominent criminal defense and personal injury attorney Peter Baskin takes a deep dive into how to avoid becoming another victim of deceptive police tactics by knowing how and when to use the power of silence in his new book, “A Toast to Silence: Avoid Becoming Another Victim of Deceptive Police Tactics by Knowing When and How to Use the Power of Silence.”
Baskin developed critical knowledge on the topic of deceptive cops and their methods of deceit during his expansive career as an attorney in Northern Virginia. In “A Toast of Silence,” he shared his views on what he called hypocrisy and deceit within the justice system.
“From a young age, we are taught that the policeman is our friend,” said Baskin. “This unfortunately has led to self-incrimination and other such avoidable mistakes by Americans when they encounter police because they do not know how to correctly exercise their right to remain silent. In fact, over ninety percent (90%) of the roughly twelve million Americans stopped and arrested annually leave themselves no choice but to plead guilty and get convicted because they were tricked, intimidated or deceived into giving up their right to silence, mistakenly thinking that the right to do so starts with the Miranda warning.”
In the following excerpt from the book, Baskin explored the public’s misinterpretation of Miranda.
As it is now worded, it simply indicates what you say is just another piece of evidence. What you say is always the centerpiece of the case against you— the strongest evidence there is. Given its bland, neutral tone and facial contradiction, as presently worded, it is no surprise that people still talk and get convicted over ninety percent of the time. The warning should go something like this: You can and must shut your mouth now and keep it shut or you will lose. Do not answer any questions by the police at any time. Demand to speak to a lawyer, say you are remaining silent, then stop talking.
Whether or not you are in custody, you do not have to answer any questions, reply to any statement, or do anything other than to identify yourself. The police want you to think that you have to talk to them. They are wrong. Whether or not you are in custody, and whether or not you are given your Miranda warnings, the Fifth Amendment always applies. The Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and not give evidence against yourself does not go away unless you consent to waive its protection and talk. The Fifth Amendment is your absolute bottom line round-the-clock protection against the government and its agents, the police, and police pressure to talk. Miranda simply is a reminder of your rights, it does not create them. The Constitution does that. When you talk, and cooperate you get nothing in return except trouble. Don’t make the mistake of intimidating yourself by thinking that if you don’t answer and don’t cooperate, the officer will think you’re guilty or hiding something. That’s what he thinks to begin with and that’s what he wants you to think under the false notion that if you talk and provide incriminating facts, you will thereby avoid arrest. You will not.
It is during this pre-Miranda interval that the seduction, disinformation, manipulation, and deception by the police, takes place and has its devastating effect on your fate in court. This is the interval that is not covered by Miranda, but definitely covered by the Fifth Amendment. This is when the officer puts to work his training to be either the authoritarian tough guy, using fear and intimidation to get you to talk, screw yourself, and lose in court, or the smoothly conversational “nice guy” with whom you’ve been “cooperating”, talk, screw yourself, and lose in court. Your response to either approach or technique is what determines what happens to you at the courthouse.
We have been conditioned during our formative years by our parents and our teachers, and as adults by our popular culture to talk things over, cooperate, work out our differences by talking, and to explain ourselves to authority figures. What we have either never learned or have forgotten is when to shut up, and to whom not to talk. It’s the police. Talking to or cooperating with them is a disaster for you and your case. When you call upon the police for help, they’re great. When they call upon you, watch out! When they call upon you, nothing serves you better than silence.
“A Toast to Silence: Avoid Becoming Another Victim of Deceptive Police Tactics by Knowing When and How to Use the Power of Silence” is available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Books-A-Million, Powell’s Book, and Indigo. For more information, visit: http://atoasttosilence.com/
About Peter Baskin:
During his five decades of practicing criminal law in Virginia, Peter M. Baskin has defended everything from parking tickets to capital murder, predominantly DUI and marijuana possession cases. His practice finds him in court almost daily.
In addition to his trial practice, Baskin has been a guest speaker at the Northern Virginia Police Academy on the law of arrest, has written on criminal practice technique for professional journals and newsletters, was lead appellate counsel in the Supreme Court of Virginia in a decision on the law of arrest in 1974, which continues to be the law in Virginia, and has instructed lawyers at Continuing Legal Education Seminars in various subjects pertaining to criminal and civil trial practice.
Baskin’s Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating is AV-pre-eminent, the highest attainable. He is a graduate of the University of Hartford and received his legal education at the National Law Center, George Washington University, Washington D.C., earning a J.D. Degree in 1967. He was, during his final year of law studies, a Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of Arlington County, Virginia and began practicing law as a prosecutor in Arlington, serving as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney from 1968 to 1972.
Baskin resides in Northern Virginia with his wife JoAnne. When he is not lawyering, he can be found outdoors fly fishing, pheasant hunting, or skiing, as the seasons permit.
For more information about Baskin and his legal practice, visit:
https://www.prialeracine.com/attorneys/peter-m-baskin-2/
For More Information Contact:
Taroue Brooks
Taroue.brooks@yahoo.com
202-431-1119
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