staghounds
Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2007
- Messages
- 18
Your lawyer is clueless, or angling for a fee.
First, such a blanket statement is obviously wrong, "never" is a very long time.
Second, my own experience in working with ATFE is that its agents, like those of every other police department I've worked with, OFTEN do knock and talks. There are lots and lots of reasons for this, including wrongful, career "enhancing" ideas by their superiors.
I say he's clueless, because anything and everything seen by consent can be used as evidence, too. Actually consent is often broader in scope- if the warrant is to look for "rifles", they can't look in places rifles can't fit. But if you give consent, they can look anywhere you consent to.
The wonderful thing about consent is that YOU CONTROL IT. If they ask to see X, you show them X, it's over. They have seen what they came to see. You have cooperated.
If they then ask to see Y, you might start with the less cooperative path. "You said you wanted to see X, I showed it to you. My lawyer said not to show you anything without a warrant, I'll take that advice now, sorry. "
First, such a blanket statement is obviously wrong, "never" is a very long time.
Second, my own experience in working with ATFE is that its agents, like those of every other police department I've worked with, OFTEN do knock and talks. There are lots and lots of reasons for this, including wrongful, career "enhancing" ideas by their superiors.
I say he's clueless, because anything and everything seen by consent can be used as evidence, too. Actually consent is often broader in scope- if the warrant is to look for "rifles", they can't look in places rifles can't fit. But if you give consent, they can look anywhere you consent to.
The wonderful thing about consent is that YOU CONTROL IT. If they ask to see X, you show them X, it's over. They have seen what they came to see. You have cooperated.
If they then ask to see Y, you might start with the less cooperative path. "You said you wanted to see X, I showed it to you. My lawyer said not to show you anything without a warrant, I'll take that advice now, sorry. "