5th Amendment?

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Oregon
I'm 20 yrs old and I was at a party on saturday where there was underaged drinking. I myself had had a few beers. After about an hour the police arrived and the host of the party locked all doors and refused to let them in.

I tried to get out of the side of the house and avoid the police but one of them saw me and told me to stop. I stopped, he approached me and asked how old I was. I said absolutely nothing and after a few minutes he handcuffed me and told me that I was disrupting their investigation and that I could go to jail. I then began to talk because I didn't want to go. Ultimately he let me go without asking for id or giving me a sobriety test.

My question is, did I have to talk to him, and if I continued to remain silent is there any way he could have taken me to jail or given me a ticket?

the 5th amendment is a protection against self incrimination. Did you incriminate yourself? If not, the 5th doesn't apply.


since you had been drinking and if they believed you were underage and you refused to correct that assumption (which you couldn't because you actually were underage), yes, they could have arrested you if you refused to answer questions about yourself. If they believed you were underage, they had probable cause to cite you for MIP. Since you didn't want to divulge any information, they could arrest you, take you to the station, and attempt to identify you. If they could not identify you through prints, you would get to set in jail until you faced a judge.

So, you didn't have to talk to them but they could have most likely arrested you if you hadn't for the reasons mentioned above.
He couldn't have arrested you for refusing to answer other questions but the end result is the same here.

So, you were in a lose/lose situation no matter what you did. If you gave your name and they had proof you were underage, refusing to answer their questions might have gotten you ticketed or arrested while answering their questions obviously would have gotten you off.

Your post seems to indicate that you did not receive a citation. Since there was no citation, doesn't really sound like there's anything for you to fight. If you're asking for future reference, well the ACLU provides information for Oregon here: http://www.aclu-or.org/content/know-your-rights-your-rights-oregon

You had the right to remain silent, but the officer also had the right to detain you until he got what he needed.

justalayman said:

the 5th amendment is a protection against self incrimination. Did you incriminate yourself? If not, the 5th doesn't apply.


since you had been drinking and if they believed you were underage and you refused to correct that assumption (which you couldn't because you actually were underage), yes, they could have arrested you if you refused to answer questions about yourself. If they believed you were underage, they had probable cause to cite you for MIP. Since you didn't want to divulge any information, they could arrest you, take you to the station, and attempt to identify you. If they could not identify you through prints, you would get to set in jail until you faced a judge.

So, you didn't have to talk to them but they could have most likely arrested you if you hadn't for the reasons mentioned above.
He couldn't have arrested you for refusing to answer other questions but the end result is the same here.

So, you were in a lose/lose situation no matter what you did. If you gave your name and they had proof you were underage, refusing to answer their questions might have gotten you ticketed or arrested while answering their questions obviously would have gotten you off.

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I wouldn't have refused to give him my ID. I wasn't trying to deceive him in any way. But by not saying anything there is no way he could have indicated that I had been drinking. It was my understanding that you are never required to talk to police.

UOregon said:

I wouldn't have refused to give him my ID. I wasn't trying to deceive him in any way. But by not saying anything there is no way he could have indicated that I had been drinking. It was my understanding that you are never required to talk to police.

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what makes you think he couldn't tell you were drinking just because you didn't or wouldn't speak? Alcohol perfuses through your skin. It can be evident even if you don't say anything. Additionally, people that have been drinking or especially if drunk walk odd, have trouble standing still, their eyes react differently, and many other cues that would allow a trained officer to make some reasonable judgment of whether you had been drinking or not.



In some states you can be compelled to provide your name if there is a reasonable suspicion there is a crime. Haven't checked your state. There was reasonable suspicion in your situation.

and, if there is reasonable suspicion there was a crime and you want to refuse to give your name where it cannot be compelled, well, that is when they get to arrest you and take you to the detention center in an attempt to identify you.

On top of everything else, if they believed there was a crime committed, your attempt to elude the police gives them legal justification to detain you so, again, you had the choice of identifying yourself or not. Then, if you refused to identify yourself, they had the option of taking you to the station or not.

UOregon said:

It was my understanding that you are never required to talk to police.

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That is NOT absolute in nature. From the online source I read the state of Oregon does NOT have what is known as a "stop and identity" law, but that does not mean the municipality you are in does not.

A S&I law is one, where at minimum, is you are "under investigation" and you are asked your name, you must provide it.

You can be asked questions, but that does not mean you are technically "under investigation", which is a mandated element.

Here it seems apparant under the totality of the circumstances, you were under investigation for underage drinking.

Absent that, as a comparative example, if any crime in Ohio, where I live is, is only a Minor Misdemeanor, NON arrestable, if I refuse to identify myself, this non arrestable MM now becomes an arrestable offense.

So if I am going to receive under probable cause a MM citation and choose to "remain silent" and not give my info, then I can be subject to a full custodial arrest.