“She says she told her son to cooperate and tell the truth, but was horrified when they told her they were arresting him and then handcuffed him and hauled him away in a patrol car.”
“if they had known that their son’s cooperation would be used as evidence against him, they would have hired a lawyer at the beginning and exercised his right to remain silent.”
You can NEVER EVER talk your way out of getting arrested by “cooperating” with the Police. When the Police come to investigate a crime and they are looking at you or a family member “cooperation” directly translates as “help them build a case against you”.
Everything you say to the Police CAN AND WILL be used against you. Nothing you say to them can be used in your defense as it is, in criminal proceedings “hearsay”. What you tell them that (they feel, or their ‘recollection’ of) is incriminating is OK for them to say on the stand, anything you tell them that is exculpatory is just hearsay.
They are inviting you to play a ‘game’ where thy can score points but nothing you do puts anything up on the score board. The longer you ‘play’ the worse it is for you.
Never “cooperate” with the Police when they think you or a family member (that you don’t want imprisoned) is a suspect.
One of the many things I've learned from FR.