By MICHELLE HOLCENBERG
Now that’s his job.
“You can’t control for the intimidation factor,” said Lawrence Marshall, a professor at Northwestern University’s law school. Marshall helped free Rolando Cruz from death row last year after Cruz was wrongfully imprisoned for more than a decade, largely because of a coerced statement.
“We could be here awhile,” Oakey says, recalling that Harris was recently made to wait a couple of hours to see her client because the desk sergeant was eating his dinner. These practices, often used so questioning can continue, are illegal, but recourse generally can be taken only after the fact, by filing a complaint with the department’s Office of Professional Standards.
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A declaration-of-rights form reminding police that their suspect enjoys the right to remain silent and the right to legal counsel is signed in triplicate by the attorney and the client. The desk sergeant is also asked to sign the form, and then to add his copy to the suspect’s file. Sergeants rarely sign, Harris said–in fact, a recent departmental directive told them not to–but they usually do accept a copy of the form, even if it seldom makes it to the case file.
“As soon as we walk into the station whatever behavior has been going on stops,” Harris said.
