Posted on 01/31/2009 4:23:38 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Whatever you say can and will be used against you in court; it's something every cop knows and every attorney should know.
Apparently one local lawyer forgot the axiom, when Albuquerque Police arrested him for drunk driving this week.
Albuquerque attorney John Wayne Higgins usually defends drunk drivers.
On Wednesday night he had the right to remain silent; instead he acted as his own attorney and tried to defend himself.
Police said that Higgins struck a curb near 12th and Mountain, and witnesses watched him walk across the street where police found him.
Higgins' entire arrest was caught by a police officer's dash camera. He claimed that he wasn't driving the car.
"This is what you're driving me in on. I'm going to sue your (expletive) off," he said.
The alleged drunk driver didn?t seem too happy cuffed and perhaps stuffed with something that didn?t agree with him
"This will be the last best day of the rest of your life," Higgins said in the back of a police cruiser. "And if you think I'm kidding you're (expletive) crazy."
During his entire ride in the police car, Higgins lobbed insults at his arresting officers.
"The only safe thing for you to do is kill me because I know, and I know people that know," he said. "You little slime bag, crick, criminal, killer."
Higgins had a hard time sitting up on the 20 minute car trip to lock up, which may have given him a wake up.
"I want you guys to know, I don't believe I can beat up these guys in jail," he said. "Any possibility that you can stay with me for a while?"
Higgins has been charged with aggravated DWI and is currently out on bond. He said that he wasn't driving the wrecked car.
Note: The entire dash cam video of the arrest will be available Saturday evening on KRQE.com
Typical response from a guilty perp.
I think he's a Republican, acting like a Dem.
LOL
It has some interesting stuff not in the news report, like him asking if the officer has a phone...and saying something like, "you're gonna shay I have shlurred speech" ;-)
He also does a good bit of lawyering, even while seemingly drunk. E.g., something like, "If I'd been the one driving, I'd take your field sobriety tests." Some other humorous moments, too...like the dentist comment. :-O
Sweet! Thanks!
~ John Wayne Higgins
I’d say the cops were scared of him. THey didn’t say much.
I like when he seems to say something like:
"I know you're a killer, too. O! And do I think you do cocaine? I know that too...I know everything about you! So let's go do it... You wanna get it on with me? Boy, you're gettin' it on with somebody."
LOL! Poor cops have to put up with this type of idiocy all the time, but with a lawyer, yikes.
That’s the way they should have behaved.
That’s not the way they DO behave though.
Not always true. In the 90s I was an officer of a startup commercial finance company that became insolvent after a few years, with the result that we went into receivership (the state equivalent of bankruptcy). The receiver immediately filed a very scary lawsuit against the officers and directors claiming potentially tens of millions in damages.
I defended myself pro se (i.e. acted as my own attorney, although I am not a lawyer). I wrote all my own pleadings and mounted a very aggressive procedural war against the receiver and his law firm, and completely bollixed up the high priced attorneys on the other side.
After two years of an aggressive battle, they finally let me out of the law suit for $1,200, and the lawyer for the other side lost her job with the high=priced Boston law firm.
Believe me, pro se defendants have a LOT of procedural advantages that are not available to licensed attorneys.
Of course, this was a civil -- not a criminal -- matter. But still I can assure you that it is often the best strategy to be your own lawyer, assuming you can write, and are occasionally willing to consult with an attorney for advice without having that attorney actually represent you in court.
We need a Wayne-as-a-middle-name ping list.
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