I don't understand what is happening above? The cop wants to take a picture or question him or what? Because if he wanted a picture, she cannot object to it, especially if it's in attempt of an investigation. He doesn't need to speak or do anything without an attorney present. Can someone chime in with more info about the case?
Police have no special rights to force someone to take a photo outside of booking.
They can try to take a photo in a public place (just as anyone can), but you are always free to decline, turn away, etc.
Also key is whether or not the officer is detaining the person. If there is no detention, then you are free to go at any time or decline. If you are being detained, then you are not free to go.
The article seems to say that the police claim they were free to take those pictures because it was unrelated to the case the lawyer was defending them in and they were not actually being questioned, thus there was no application of right to attorney in the situation with the pictures. However, the arrest was not clearly justified so there is dispute over whether there were grounds to arrest her, regardless of whether she was correct in defending her clients from a separate investigation's development.
A key aspect is the fact that the video makes it clear that the police are detaining her clients. The officer starts out by saying that they are not free to go, but does not want to discuss any issues w/the attorney.
Plus, if the police were just having a "casual conversation" and not detaining her client, then there would be no official duty for her to interfere with. And if they were detaining her client for questioning...then their attorney has every right to be there and advocate for their interests.
Do the police have any rights over normal people to take photos? Because in a normal situation they'd have the right to take the photos, but she also has the right to get in the way.
No special rights to take photos in public.
I think you're probably right, but its certainly not common for a plain clothes cop to accost a suspect at a courthouse and try to question him about an unrelated crime.
Here is an excerpt from the end of the SFgate article about it:
"As for the right against self-incrimination, Aviram said the issue is whether the police interaction with the two men was a custodial interrogation, which requires officers to issue a Miranda warning informing a detainee of his or her rights.
Esparza said there are different types of detention that can range from interrogation, in which a person has a right to have an attorney present, to a casual consensual encounter.
What I saw from the video was the cops asking their names and taking their pictures from angles that lead me to believe that they were putting together a lineup for another offense, Aviram said. Presumably they can do this, but ordinarily they wouldnt grab you from a courtroom hallway.
She added, Regardless of where the constitutional disposition is, the attorney was in no way being violent or resisting arrest or being disruptive in any way. Its extreme and its bad press for (the police). Im surprised.-SFgate
The incident in the video is clearly not a "consensual encounter."
The police officer makes it clear that the attorney's clients are NOT free to leave.
After she informs the officer that her clients are declining to have their photos taken, the officer has her arrested and removed and then goes on to order the men to pose and stand still for the photos, because otherwise they will turn out blurry on his camera phone.
After seeing their attorney be arrested, there is little room to argue that the men felt that they were free to leave at any time.
As for the second bolded piece, I completely agree. There is no way that this can reflect well on the department.
SFPD just handed the public defender's office the best press it could ever have. And I don't think Jami Tillotson could have handled that any better. She knew it was being filmed, she kept her cool the entire time and she gave the officer all the rope he needed to make him and his buddies look like total jerks.
