CITIZENS HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

The story "Aspen cocaine case may not hold up" (SDN Aug. 8) made my
blood boil. This rookie cop decides to become supercop by violating
the rights of the citizens. Here is a fact: A citizen of this nation
does not have to "keep talking" to police under any circumstances.
The article says that the cop kept insisting that Greengrass keep
talking to him: This is a violation of the law.

No citizen is required to speak with any cop whatsoever, the right to
remain silent is absolute. The cop had no busines demanding
conversation from the accused, none at all.

The fact that the cop had to badger the defendant into chatting to
try and find some probable cause means he had no case at all.
Suspicion is not reasonable grounds to believe that a crime had been
committed. People may exchange anything or nothing and unless the cop
has real cause to believe that a crime has occurred then he had a
legal imperative to leave the citizens alone. To demand conversation
was illegal, and to insist on keeping a citizen in custody and not
free to leave because he would not speak to a cop for long enough is
illegal and unconstitutional.

Rich Moore

Franklin, N.C.