When I was still in law school, I used to represent indigent defendants in district court (you couldn't be sentenced to more than 2 1/2 years in jail, and you had an automatic right to appeal to a jury of six if convicted). One client was a young man who was accused of possession of crack with intent to distribute. My defendant, according to the police report, was approached by two officers and asked his name. The officers had seen what was allegedly a hand-to-hand transaction, and suspected a crack deal. They did not have enough reasonable suspicion for a weapons pat-frisk, nor probable cause for a search. So they asked him, Hey, what's your name?
My defendant, genius that he was, answered by telling them his name -- with several baggies of crack stuffed into his cheek like a chipmunk. Under the plain view doctrine, the officers now had probable cause to search, discovered the illegal substance, and arrested him.
Lesson for the day: You have the right to remain silent. Shut the hell up!
That was quite amusing.
