“As a practical matter, protestations of innocence by the accused have very little probative value.”
and hense reason to not use one’s refusal to answer questions as a point of evidence of guilt?
Please don’t be silly. I was simply pointing out that juries and prosecutors give very little weight to protestations of innocent. The same can be said for police. Nobody says, “hey, he said he didn’t do it, so he must be innocent.” Not everyone is as honest as you. Or as gullible.
Cops are skilled at drawing suspects into giving contradictory or inconsistent accounts, which is a valuable investigative tool. A lot of people think they can talk their way out of a jam, because their parents, teachers, coworkers and supervisors never had the energy and persistence to pursue their jive stories. People who have simple, unembellished stories are usually dismissed as suspects.