I am trying to determine whether I can have a case thrown out against me. I live in Oregon. Yesterday a man, accompanied

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Customer: I am trying to determine whether I can have a case thrown out against me. I live in Oregon. Yesterday a man, accompanied with three other men with cameras, came to my door with a printout of a conversation I had with him, as he was playing a 9 year old girl on instagram. Reading the conversation I believe he had hoped to entrap me on several occasions but he failed in doing so. He largely contacted me and I said a nice word and was done. However, as I work in a school it was still an embarrassing record and I regretfully mentioned students of mine by name.He then used this embarassing document, as well as cameras as a means of interrogating me over an hour or even more. He seemed to want me to believe that he would bury the document if I said what he wanted me to, and for my part I felt intimidated. I told him I did not want to be recorded, but he said the cameras were only there for their safety. My kids were at home with me an were clearly nervous. At one point my son came out of the house to ask me to make him breakfast, and my recollection is that my interrogator spoke to him about going back inside, that he was just asking me some questions about school. I think I also made clear I hadn't even yet had a chance to use the bathroom that morning. I felt as if I was being held against my will, and I complied by answering questions as he wanted them answered. He made large leaps from his short online conversation with me and his uncovering that I used the application Telegram to make spurious claims. When I started pushing back against these, he started pushing me back. At some point I did eventually succumb to admitting to one count of possession under complicated circumstances. After failing to get me to admit to nauseating and infuriating abuses of my students, he directed police over, presumably telling them what I had said and giving them the recordings they had made.The police were professional and read my miranda rights. However at this point I was very shaken and thought the police now had a mountain of information with which to prosecute me, and I felt so overwhelmingly guilty that I continued to admit to things, both true and not, because any stepping back at all from what I said on the video seemed like a positive. One admission was even in truth, that I had been in possession of illegal content on my phone but thought it long gone. However, when I checked and saw it was not the police confiscated my phone.Going back to my initial question, how easily can the police build a case against me on the basis of confessions first recorded in violation of Oregon law (I was not "specifically informed that my conversation was being obtained"; they claimed they were only recording in fear I might pull a weapon on them) and under duress? and before that on an attempt at entrapment made by private citizens, which I do not know the legality of in Oregon. if police had interrogated me this way before reading my miranda rights, it seems to me that the case would be scrapped. Is that not just as true when the initial interrogation is made by aggressive vigilantes? or are police allowed to legally build upon criminally collected evidence?
JA: Have any charges been filed? If so, when is the next court date?
Customer: no charges have been filed. there is an active investigation and I was told they would be seeking a search warrant for my phone and computer.
JA: Have you talked to an Oregon lawyer about this yet?
Customer: not yet.
JA: Is there anything else the Lawyer should know before I connect you? Rest assured that they'll be able to help you.
Customer: not that I can think of
Answered by JanLegal in 1 hour 5 months ago
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JanLegal
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JanLegal
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JanLegal
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5058 Satisfied customers

Jessica

Jessica

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JanLegal, Expert

Hi, I am Janessa and I will be your legal expert assisting you with your legal needs today. Thank you for visiting Just Answer for help. I will write you again in a few minutes with my full answer to your question. Please, feel free to follow up with anything you like as I prepare the full answer to your question.

Customer
thank you Janessa! I appreciate you getting back to me.
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JanLegal, Expert

If a case is registered against you then you would get the information since a summons would be out there against you and you would be required to appear before the court.

Customer
I believe it is just in a state of investigation right now. which has consequences enough. for instance, I am not able to work.
Customer
as far as my main question, how does the basis of my investigation in vigilante tactics impact my defense?
Customer
I'm trying to research this myself while awaiting a reply, but would anything gained from the police be considered "fruit of the poisonous tree" aspect of the exclusionary rule?
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JanLegal, Expert

You cannot affect the state of the investigation still it is complete and thereafter once the charges are filed then you can deny and shift the burden to the opposite side.

Customer
Who conducts the investigation? Will it take the use of illegal evidence into account?
Customer
My main question was mostly speculative-- how much harder is it to generate a case against someone using illegal evidence generated by a vigilante group?
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JanLegal, Expert

The investigations are conducted by the police authorities and it won't be illegal evidence but if you do have questions then you may contradict them in court.

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JanLegal, Expert

Thanks for letting me assist you today. I want to make sure that you fully understand my response. Please, don’t hesitate to follow up with me if you need clarifications. Please, write to me if you need help with anything else. Regards, Janessa

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