Criminal Cases: Q&A

A: The best option, of course, is to not be convicted in the first place, which means hiring an attorney who specializes in criminal law. However, if you are convicted, there are other options available at the judge’s discretion. Your criminal law attorney can present those alternatives to the judge, which can be of great benefit to you, with regard to keeping you out of jail, or limiting the amount of jail time.

A: You have the right to remain silent, so I would suggest that you always exercise that right; almost no one does themselves a service by speaking up and not exercising their right to remain silent. In most cases, everything you say works to your disadvantage and you regret what you say later on, especially if you’re the subject of the investigation. The police must advise you whether you’re the subject of an investigation, so it pays to ask. If an officer is just looking for general information about whether a crime has been committed, it may be worth it to cooperate, but if the information they ask for is specific, especially if they’re narrowing things down to you, it always pays to speak to an attorney first, and to inform the officer of that desire.

A: First of all, a warrant is not required during most searches; it is only required for certain searches. That said; if a search is conducted in which a warrant was necessary and not obtained, a good judge and a good criminal defense attorney will make sure you’re not railroaded. The most important thing is to get a good criminal defense attorney immediately, who can put forth the proper motions necessary to make sure the case doesn’t proceed if a warrant was required and one was not obtained.

A: It’s a misconception to think Miranda rights are required when someone is arrested; police only have to Mirandize someone if they plan to question someone with the intent of eliciting responses that could potentially be used against them later on at trial. The only time a lack of Miranda would get a case dismissed would be if the case was based solely on admissions made after that person was in custody, and that is very rare. If the entire case was based on a confession, and you can prove that you were not read your rights before the questioning in which you confessed, it is likely that confession would be thrown out, which could lead to the case being dismissed. But again, that’s rare. Proving that you were not read your rights might also be very difficult unless the police officer admitted the error. Miranda isn’t as important as it once was, so it’s very difficult to get a case dismissed. It’s very difficult to prove, and many judges see Miranda as the most technical of defects, which means it will depend on how he sees the rest of your case as to whether or not he will dismiss your case over it.

A: It’s obvious that hiring your own attorney is best; public defenders are chosen for you, you can’t choose one based on their reputation or experience Also, their caseloads are so heavy, there is no way they will be able to invest the time necessary to bring your case to a successful conclusion. That’s not to say that’s 100% true; some cases are pretty well set in stone and will resolve themselves in a certain way no matter who is handling them, although such a case is very rare.

A: If you hire the right attorney, it’s certainly worth it. You have to go to an attorney’s website and you have to set up an interview. During the interview, you have to ask a lot of questions and get a feel for that attorney, and you should ask around. An attorney’s reputation is important, but it is important to make sure the attorney has a strong reputation in the very field of criminal law in which you need help. Criminal law has become so complicated, you need an attorney who specializes in criminal law, not one who does real estate and an occasional criminal case on the side.