Steven Silverman's blog

Check out this fun interview by Adam Mueller from the Motorhome Diaries. I love the contrast between my hyperactive demeanor and the poised Buddha-like Scotty Mo.

Need more proof that video is part of the solution to police misconduct?

When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn't done anything wrong.

Lucky for them, the security camera in the club where they supposedly sold cocaine to the detectives that night showed them sitting at the bar the entire time. Never during the 90 minutes the detectives were in the club did the brothers even talk to the detectives.

After being arrested, Jose Colon went directly to the bar and asked the owner for copies of the security tapes.

Jose quickly got the tape to defense attorney Rochelle Berliner, a former narcotics prosecutor. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I almost threw up," she said. "Because I must've prosecuted 1,500, 2,000 drug cases ... and all felonies. And I think back, Oh my God, I believed everything everyone told me. Maybe a handful of times did something not sound right to me. I don't mean to sound overly dramatic but I was like, sick."

If not for video, two innocent men would have likely been sent to prison. Instead, they are free. The crooked cops who framed them will hopefully be sent to prison, and the brothers are set up to receive a huge payout in a civil suit against the NYPD.

10 Rules Director Rubin Whitmore II (center)

I'm thrilled to announce our next video, Flex Your Rights: 10 Rules for Dealing with Police (previously titled Street Law), is scheduled for release this fall!

Thanks to a terrific group of individual and foundation givers we've raised $100,000 and are carrying out our vision to produce the most outstanding know-your-rights video ever.

The vision emerged as we traveled the nation teaching (and learning) about the best strategies for dealing with police. We've also made friends with some of the nation's most brilliant legal minds and champions of social justice.

Among them, legendary criminal defense attorney Billy Murphy, Jr. stood out as the natural choice to star as narrator. He's given himself generously to the project and is committed to its success. With a completed budget, a dynamic narrator, and a fast-paced screenplay, the cameras begin rolling this spring!

See Your Name in 10 Rules' Credits!
While $100,000 is a lot of money, it's barely enough to fulfill our vision. Our current budget allows us three shoot days for four scenes -- giving us zero margin of error. Your additional support can allow us to hire the production crew for four shoot days (or one day per scene). This will allow us to capture more takes to create more lifelike scenarios, so we can avoid cutting back on quality or essential lessons.

If you donate $100 to 10 Rules between now and production time, your name will appear in the screen credits! For each additional $100 you may add a friend or family member's name too... So invite your whole family to become part of what's destined to become the freedomtastic film of the millennium!

To help build the production fund and get your name in the credits, click here to donate. Or you can write a check to Flex Your Rights and enter "10 Rules" in the notes section. Of course smaller donations are greatly appreciated too.

Thanks for helping us bring 10 Rules into your community, living room and computer screen!

Being on the blunt edge of technology, I've just subscribed to my first podcast. Created by rockstar attorney, David Clark (AKA: Smoove D.), the show celebrates the myriad reasons why the 4th Amendment, um, rocks.

Enjoy!

ABC's 20/20 covers the tragic death of 23-year-old Florida girl, Rachel Hoffman. Caught with what the Tallahassee police chief described as "about a baggie" of marijuana, she was tricked/blackmailed/threatened into becoming a police informant.

The chief blames Rachel for her death, repeatedly calling her a drug criminal. But it is clear that he is a scoundrel defending incompetent, callous officers who sent a sheep into a lions' den.

As I think of Rachel, I can't shake the terrible thought that a little know-your-rights education could have saved her life.

Professor Duane from Regent Law School has a speaking style similar to Regis Philbin on methamphetamine. As a result this compelling 27-minute lecture flies by.

Duane cites multiple examples of how intelligent and powerful people have fallen prey to their mistaken believe that they are equipped to speak to criminal investigators. However, the most notable portions of the lecture are when he describes how easily a police interrogator's misrecollection can be used to crucify a perfectly innocent suspect who tells only the truth.

[Thanks to Tim Lynch for the tip]

Eugene Volokh, of The Volokh Conspiracy got this request from Michael Rosman at the Center for Individual Rights writes:

Like many of your readers, I was intrigued by your recent post concerning the conviction of individuals for taping or videotaping police officers while the officers are doing their job in public. Some of your readers thought that there may be some federal constitutional problem in laws that make such tapings illegal. My employer, the Center for Individual Rights, is interested in possibly representing individuals who want to challenge such laws as a violation of constitutional rights.

Ideally, a potential client would be a person or organization that legitimately is concerned about being arrested for taping police officers, or who would engage in that conduct were it not for a law making it illegal. Obviously, it would have to be in a state where the law makes that concern reasonable. (Your post referred to Massachusetts. We believe that Pennsylvania may be another such state, although the law there is more in flux.) Someone who has already gotten in trouble for violating such a law is fine, but we would not be the best lawyers to represent someone currently involved in an ongoing criminal or civil proceeding in state court.

If any of your readers are among those who would like to challenge a law of this kind, or can help us identify the states where such laws exist by giving us cites to relevant statutes or cases, (s)he can email me at rosman [at] cir-usa.org.

I'm about to dive into a three-part series in The Philadelphia Inquirer investigating heavy-handed policing tactics in suburbia.

It makes me proud that my hometown paper has the balls to allow writer Mark Fazlollah to delve so deeply into a chronically underreported social problem.