LE wants to interview the parents separately

[Boytwnmom]

are kidnapped frequently hire lawyers to negotiate the terms of their interviews with law enforcement after they have contacted them to report a crime? Didn't know that. People whoa re suppsoedly crime victims are not likely to hire attornesy to "protect" them from the very people they have just reported a crime to in order to ask for help.

Sure, if LE just calls you up and wants to question you, get a lawyer, negotiate, refuse, whatever. But you wake up and your infant is gone, do you do the same thing? I kinda doubt it.

It's very frequent to negotiate the terms of an interview. People bring in lawyers to protect them from excessive behavior by government officials. If you think about it, the purpose of the Constitution is to protect the citizenry from abuses by the government.
There is a always a tension in this situation between competing objectives. LE just wants to get a signed confession and move on to the rest of the sludge in the system. (It really is not so much about finding the baby at this point.) Lawyers want to protect their clients from abuses by LE in their desire to get a confession.
The lawyers will most likely work out terms for the Irwins to be interviewed by different detectives. The Irwins did an earlier unrestricted interview that apparently went awry with very aggressive detectives. If the Irwins are innocent and they feel that LE is having a narrow focus on them instead of following other leads to find their baby, you can understand why relations have soured.
I don't know what happened here. I am in favor of due process so that if the Irwins are culpable, they are treated fairly under the law and the conviction sticks.

 

[justamommy]

Why does she go along with information that she knows is wrong?

IMO we don't know how these are edited. I think this is part of the reason LE wanted raw video.

 

[Bon]

We all know "someone else" who didn't want their little one found and we know how that went down....

The longer the baby is missing the better it is for the parents if they truly were involved in her disappearance...

 

[Chris_Texas]

I don't understand how someone can *refuse* to be interviewed separately. I guess you have to be named a POI or suspect, or arrested, before LE can force it? For the life of me, I just cannot understand why someone who is *innocent* would refuse this. MOO

They can refuse to answer any questions at all, nor legally can this refusal be used in court as evidence of guilt. Many, perhaps most, attorneys would advise this regardless of the guilt or innocence of their client.

With that said, a parent interested in the safety of their child likely would answer any and all questions, and as often as necessary. In this case the parents do not even know the questions they will face. Assuming they are innocent and as baffled as they claim, they do not know if their refusal to talk might be placing their child in mortal danger.

But then, the behavior of the parents can and should be viewed and weighted, not based on this latest refusal, but in total. In doing so, in my opinion, a pattern of behavior is clear: they have known from the beginning that Lisa is not coming home alive, and they are definately not interested in assisting in the search.

I think a whole lot of evil people learned some valuable lessons from the Casey Anthony trial:

1. Hide the body really really well
2. If possible, put it somewhere it will be destroyed
3. Refuse to cooperate and play the victim
4. Profit!

 

[JeannaT]

are kidnapped frequently hire lawyers to negotiate the terms of their interviews with law enforcement after they have contacted them to report a crime? Didn't know that. People whoa re suppsoedly crime victims are not likely to hire attornesy to "protect" them from the very people they have just reported a crime to in order to ask for help.

Sure, if LE just calls you up and wants to question you, get a lawyer, negotiate, refuse, whatever. But you wake up and your infant is gone, do you do the same thing? I kinda doubt it.

You're right, "victims" of crimes virtually never hire lawyers. But family members of victims often have to, to protect themselves.

Baby Lisa is the victim here, and we don't know who the perpetrators are. So it's VERY wise, especially looking at the direction LE is taking here, that her family members seek counsel.

 

[JeannaT]

We all know "someone else" who didn't want their little one found and we know how that went down....

The longer the baby is missing the better it is for the parents if they truly were involved in her disappearance...

well, yes.

The longer this case goes unsolved, the better it is for whoever perpetrated this crime.

 

[Geralyn]

If they are so eminently reasonable why not let everyone know what totally normal demands they are making? Why only cryptic comments? Perhaps because they don't want their "demands" met or people to know whether they were met or perhaps they won't state their demands so that they can just continue to say they're not being met and thus have a reason, apparently acceptable to many, why they continue to refuse to cooperate with the only people who seem to be actually looking for their "missing" daughter.

They won't even say fi they'll agree to be interviewed separately which is done in all crime investigations, from fender benders on up. IMO most parents of missing infants would be a lot less concerned with their "constitutional rights" and a lot more concerned with the actual life of their child. Frankly, it's hard for me to conceive of a circumstance under which I wouldn't willingly surrender my "rights" if there was any chance of those rights impeding an investigation into my missing child.

BBM
As to the bolded, it could be on the advice of their lawyer(s).

 

[Donjeta]

IMO we don't know how these are edited. I think this is part of the reason LE wanted raw video.

In some videos it's pretty clear there's no edit between the reporter prompt and the conflicting parent response IMO.

 

[dizzychick]

If the kids were alseep what could they tell the investigators anyway other than whatever it was they told them in the 1st place. This is why i brought up the mcMartin case. Children want to please and want to answer an adults questions, this is dangerous IMO recalling those kids made up all kinds of stories like large rabbits visted them etc etc they are kids not adults.

 

[Donjeta]

Even if the children slept through whatever happened at night they could still know interesting things about things that happened earlier in the evening and about people in their circle in general.

 

[frankie069]

They can NEVER force an interview.....even if arrested, charged, and officially named as a suspect. That person does not HAVE to speak to LE then or ever-- be it alone, with an attorney, or with a group. Even if they both were arrested and charged....if the only way that they would agree to talk to LE was if they were interviewed together......then LE would have to make a choice.....together or NOT AT ALL.

Thats true, they can invoke their 5th, but what does that tell you.. Sometimes any answer is better than no answer..

 

[CharlestonGal]

Here is the holdup:

"(CNN) -- The parents of a missing Missouri girl have refused to be interviewed separately by authorities, Kansas City police said Wednesday.

But the attorney representing Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley, parents of 11-month-old Lisa Irwin, said the couple is not opposed to separate interviews, but do not want what police requested -- an unrestricted interview with no attorneys present."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/justice/missouri-missing-girl/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

[roseofsharon]

We all know "someone else" who didn't want their little one found and we know how that went down....

The longer the baby is missing the better it is for the parents if they truly were involved in her disappearance...

I think you are right and here we go again!!!

The only difference being if this turns out to be the case, DB will go down because she doesn't fit the "too pretty" profile even though I personally do not think CA was any great shakes like the media purported her to be!!

imo

 

[AnaTeresa]

Here is the holdup:

"(CNN) -- The parents of a missing Missouri girl have refused to be interviewed separately by authorities, Kansas City police said Wednesday.

But the attorney representing Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley, parents of 11-month-old Lisa Irwin, said the couple is not opposed to separate interviews, but do not want what police requested -- an unrestricted interview with no attorneys present."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/justice/missouri-missing-girl/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Well, if that's truly the case, that's not going to happen. How ridiculous.

That said, this is coming from the attorneys of JI and DB. It will be interesting if LE now releases a statement disputing this, setting off the "nuh uh!" and "uh huh!" carousel again.

At this point, I don't entirely believe EITHER side's statements to the media regarding the questioning as fact.

 

[tehcloser]

Here is the holdup:

"(CNN) -- The parents of a missing Missouri girl have refused to be interviewed separately by authorities, Kansas City police said Wednesday.

But the attorney representing Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley, parents of 11-month-old Lisa Irwin, said the couple is not opposed to separate interviews, but do not want what police requested -- an unrestricted interview with no attorneys present."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/justice/missouri-missing-girl/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

:floorlaugh: It's getting to where I don't know if I'm reading an MSN article or a thread here at WS.............

 

[JeannaT]

Here is the holdup:

"(CNN) -- The parents of a missing Missouri girl have refused to be interviewed separately by authorities, Kansas City police said Wednesday.

But the attorney representing Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley, parents of 11-month-old Lisa Irwin, said the couple is not opposed to separate interviews, but do not want what police requested -- an unrestricted interview with no attorneys present."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/justice/missouri-missing-girl/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Yep. I think pretty much all of us speculated that's what LE wanted when they said "unrestricted" - they want the couple to waive their right to counsel.

 

[tehcloser]

Yep. I think pretty much all of us speculated that's what LE wanted when they said "unrestricted" - they want the couple to waive their right to counsel.

Naw, I didn't speculate that...and I'm not buying that attorney's spin either.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Well, if that's truly the case, that's not going to happen. How ridiculous.

That said, this is coming from the attorneys of JI and DB. It will be interesting if LE now releases a statement disputing this, setting off the "nuh uh!" and "uh huh!" carousel again.

At this point, I don't entirely believe EITHER side's statements to the media regarding the questioning as fact.

I agree with you. I think LE is going to have to answer this accusation though. I hardly think they can look the other way when being accused outright of demanding that the parents give up their right to have an attorney present during questioning. That is a serious allegation and certainly should never be done by any law enforcement agency in the US.

This whole thing has turned into a gigantic circus.

 

[JeannaT]

Naw, I didn't speculate that...and I'm not buying that attorney's spin either.

I guess we'll see. Maybe hell will freeze over and LE will make a statement.

 

[believe09]

Why is she so angry about being shown burnt clothing? If I had a daughter missing and LE found some clothing I would absolutely want to see it. If I can identify it as her own it's an important lead. If it's not hers it can be eliminated. It might be upsetting to see her outfit burnt and wonder what may have happened to her but knowing for sure is better than guesswork ("maybe it's related maybe not we don't know and we won't find out because the person who might recognize it won't take a look at it for fear of being upset").

I'm betting if LE found burnt clothing and they didn't show her the attorneys would be complaining that LE are keeping her in the dark about important leads. JMO.

Playing devils advocate-If you believed that LE was looking for information from you, purely looking for information, it seems illogical to be upset.

If you believe that LE has been playing mind games with you and pressuring you over and over and over again, I can see being upset to have charred clothing presented to you.

She would likely be wondering if they are a.) simply looking for a reaction or b.) if they actually believe she has something to say that would be of value to them.

Like it or not, and I dont fwiw, LE has chosen to take this investigation to the media. Or at least specific aspects of it. They are pressuring the parents constantly. They may have good reason for it, but *if* they are wrong about the focus, I shudder to think about the outcomes here.