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Picking up where we left off at the end of last year, let's continue our exploration of your rights under the 5th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

As we close out the year, let's talk about your "right to remain silent". What is it? How do you exercise it? And, when is your silence going to be used against you?

To put a bit of a finish on our discussion of searches and seizures, let me define some of the situations where these terms do or do not apply.

Based on one comment in particular and some subsequent general impressions, I think it is important for me to clarify a few matters.

Now that the turkey and dressing are a fading memory, if not our waistlines, let's return to the discussion of searches and your rights.

Today, I want take time to wish each and every one of you a very special and joyous Thanksgiving day. No matter how meager it may seem, be thankful for what you have, for there are those who have much less.

Getting back on track in this series, we left off a couple of weeks ago about to discuss rights, warrants and consent.

I am going to alter what I stated I would discuss this week and save that to next week. This week I want to discuss a concept which has been much maligned over the last several years, especially on talk radio, as a legal fiction and something which need not be honored in "real" life. That concept is the "presumption of innocence."

Last time I left the discussion of law enforcement agent promises to a later day. To keep these musings in some reasonable sequence it is a good time to engage in that dialogue.

This week let me focus on specifically federal prosecutions, as that is the focus of my practice and an area unfamiliar to most people.