The simple thought that every hour counts to find a child could lead to a situation such as this would cause me to welcome LE in with open arms. They can't find anything that implicates me unless I am involved somehow. I have more faith in LE than to believe they are in the business of finding something on an innocent person just because.
Maybe in another circumstance I would be different, but in the case of a missing child, who knows? Like I said before, shoot me before I get to a point in my life where my rights mean more than a childs.
Most of the time, LE is operating with the best intentions on the best information they have.
But.
Sometimes it just ain't so. Are you familiar with the case of Kathryn Johnston? She was a 92 year old woman who lived by herself in a somewhat scary neighbourhood. She had a gun because she was afraid that someday, someone would break in and threaten her life.
Sadly, that's exactly what happened. The police lied to a judge to get a no-knock warrant. Three plainclothes officers went to her house, ripped out her burglar bars, broke open her door and then identified themselves as LE.
At 92 years old, it's reasonable to think that her hearing may not have been as acute as a younger person's hearing. She used her gun to fire a single shot over the heads of the incoming cops. They fired 39 shots in response; six or seven of those bullets hit Ms Johnston and several of the officers fell to friendly fire.
As she lay bleeding and dying on her floor, an officer handcuffed her.
By all accounts, she had led a life full of hard work and kind deeds. She did not deserve to die in terror.
And then the police planted three bags of marijuana in her house to justify the raid. The police department vilified her in the press. One article I remember reading was disputing her age, claiming she was "only" 87 years old rather than 92 (as if that made any difference!).
It turned out that there was absolutely nothing in her house or in her life to implicate her in any crime. What she did "wrong" was to be afraid of crime, to put burglar bars on her doors and windows, and, after another elderly woman in her neighbourhood was raped, buy a gun.
I can't get over the image of her lying bleeding on the floor, no doubt feeling terrible confusion and fear... and rather than receiving comfort in her last moments, a police officer handcuffed her.
The federal probe revealed that police "routinely lied" in order to get search warrants and often falsified affidavits.
If the police are acting on the up and up, my exercising my right to representation by a lawyer is not a problem. If the police are even thinking less than virtuous thoughts, well, maybe my lawyer can convince them they'd better straighten up and fly right.
