Facing a criminal charge or even a criminal investigation is never easy. It is likely that even the most prepared individual will find such an investigation an unfamiliar situation that is as confusing as it is urgent.

When it comes to white collar crime, most suspects would consider themselves to be fairly sophisticated. This level of confidence can sometimes lead to a situation where such a suspect believes that they can talk their way out of it. More often than not this leads to a worse situation than what they originally faced.

The reality of any investigation is fairly simple. If you are facing any kind of a criminal charge, especially something is potentially complicated as white collar crime, it is vitally important that you take certain steps in order to protect your rights. Among your first priorities should be to hire an attorney.

Remain Silent

One of the first pieces of advice your attorney will give you is to remain silent. Under no circumstances should you engage any investigator, the police or any law enforcement representative of any kind in a conversation regarding your charges. You should not answer any questions. You should not provide any information. As a matter of fact you should not have any conversations with law enforcement at all.

The reason for this level of caution is because uninformed individuals suspected of a crime can very easily further implicate themselves or create a situation where they give investigators more justification for inquiry than they originally had.

If you are facing questions from law enforcement, every question should be referred to your attorney. You should remain absolutely silent and answer no questions any kind.

Consent to No Search

The second thing your attorney is going to advise you to do is to assert your Fourth Amendment right to privacy. Under no circumstances should you ever authorize a search of anything you own or that you control. In some circumstances you may find yourself in a situation where you have no ability to prevent a search. Sometimes the property being searched doesn’t belong to you, and at other times the property being searched doesn’t necessarily legally subject you to an invasion of privacy.

At all other times, however, you should consistently invoke your rights to privacy. Insist law enforcement obtain a warrant. Give your attorney the opportunity to challenge each warrant if it is legally insufficient. Remember even if you are suspected of a crime you still have rights under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

Privilege

Another principal reason for obtaining legal counsel as quickly as you can is because everything you tell your attorney and everything that you provide your attorney for your defense is privileged. What this means is any conversation between you and your attorney regarding the case cannot ever be used against you as evidence either at trial or anywhere else.

Even if you were to confess outright to the crime you are charged with, that information cannot ever be used against you. The reason your conversations with your attorney are privileged is because the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees you the right to competent counsel for your defense.

Under our system of law it is considered more important that a defendant be able to have frank conversations with their attorney than it is for the prosecution to have the power to use that information against them. This is a matter of public policy and it is one of the key safeguards built into our legal system that prevents defendants from being charged unfairly based on evidence the prosecution should never have.

Your attorney is a key individual in your defense for obvious reasons. It is easy for people who have no experience in legal matters to imagine they are meant to face these difficulties by themselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. You should obtain competent and experienced legal counsel at your earliest opportunity if you are facing any kind of criminal charge. There is simply too much at stake for any other course of action.