All I can say is that exercising your rights (that is, the right to keep silent, the right to be represented by counsel, and the right to refuse searches without a warrant) does NOT indicate guilt. It demonstrates that you are not an utter fool!
Well said and very true. Our Founding Fathers had a reason to secure each American citizen's protections....abuse of power, for one, innocent until proven guilty, for another; our Fifth Amendment for the right not to say something that can be [twisted around and taken out of context] used against you for yet another.
Think of the cases of people wrongly porosecuted and even convicted, and how many of them "cooperated fully", giving up their rights to do so- only to find themselves in prison!
I am very far from a "cop-basher", but I also know that the aim of investigators is to CLOSE CASES- and that means finding someone to prosecute. I do not think that there are many cases of intemntional wrongful prosecution, but we have seen on this thread just how easy it can be to convince oneself of anothers guilt, even with the flimsiest of evidence.