TexasCHLforum.com

If you look at the original youtube videos on not talking to the police, all their examples of what not to do dealt with people being interrogated and/or interviewed after the fact, mostly at the station. I don't believe they addressed at all the idea of staying silent at the scene of the incident.

The idea to give some basic info on a 911 call and to the responding officers is simply trying to minimize legal grief. If the cop shows up and doesn't recognize the situation as one of self defense and you clam up and won't say anything, he may just assume murder and approach evidence and everything with that angle. He may miss something important to your version of events. Also, an escaping victim might have called 911 and lied about what happened.

Odd are you will end up Not Guilty and free regardless of which route you go especially in Texas. What we want to do is play the best cards you can to avoid going to trial at all.

It is always good to remember that Massad Ayoob's original background is New York and New Jersey as well as various cases around the country. All his advice is based on seeing gun owners run through the legal wringer. Much of it likely won't be a problem by itself, but can cause issues if the evidence backing you up is not so strong.

I think Ayoob's advicde is pretty good. What some don't consider is that what you DON'T SAY can also be held against you. If you say nothing at all, you are more or less hoping the cop on the scene assumes you are the victim instead of a murderer and doesn't miss evidence or witnesses that you saw, but won't mention.

I think the advice to shut up is to avoid talking at length or joking with police officers. This is a valid risk as you will be coming off an adrenaline high. If you rehearse in your mind what you need to do, I think you can help yourself. The 2nd part of that advice is to avoid being interviewed by police afterward without your lawyer.