Hire A Criminal Defense Attorney Now
Representing yourself is rare and always ill-advised; before you can represent yourself, you’ll have to convince the judge that you’re versed in the law and you’re not shooting yourself in the foot. Although the DAs are supposed to be in pursuit of justice, they have a natural tendency to go full throttle and if you’re at their mercy, that won’t work to your benefit 99 percent of the time.
There are just too many procedural rules, there are a lot of laws that take a while to become familiar with, so it’s very dangerous for anyone to go pro se, which is why it’s very rare that the court will allow it. You really have to work at it before judges will let you handle your own case.
Regarding a public defender or private attorney, it’s just depends on the ability of a person to fund their defense; public defenders are very restricted with regard to the amount of support they get for a case, such as private investigators or medical experts, so the big difference between a private attorney and a public defender will probably be the access to funds to let an attorney use a full range of services to defend you. A public defender has a limited budget and they have a much higher case load than private attorneys, which means less time to spend on each case.
What Credentials or Qualities Should I Look for in a Competent Criminal Defense Attorney?
The big one is experience, particularly in criminal law, although life experience will play a big part in how an attorney handles their case because a criminal defense attorney has to negotiate deals with the DAs and sometimes even have a heart-to-heart talk with the client; sometimes the experience helps with clients and the DAs. Obviously, one of the big things to do is see how many times your attorney has been sanctioned by the state bar; that’s a quick way to find out if your attorney has problems. You probably want an attorney with an office and office staff and not someone who operates from house, which limits their ability to connect with clients and handle cases properly.
How Often Can You Get Criminal Charges Dropped, Dismissed or Reduced?
Every jurisdiction has different levels of aggressive DAs. Some DAs in some jurisdictions just don’t give any breaks and don’t like to reduce charges, but generally speaking, cases that are flat-out dismissed are rare. We do have cases that are dismissed after a while, because perhaps the DA finds out there is not much there or witnesses go away or that the crime isn’t very serious, meaning that it doesn’t involve people death or child molestation, which are rarely dismissed. As far as charges being reduced, that happens all the time; most of the time, by the time we get through a case, the charges will be reduced or the defendant will plead to lesser charges.
Are there Alternative Punishments to Jail that I Can Qualify for?
One of the reasons you need an attorney is because sometimes there are different programs available in lieu of jail, such as pre-prosecution diversion programs, or special programs for what they call the third adjudication, that don’t involve jail and will result in eventually having your charges dismissed. There are alternatives to jail that depend on criminal history and type of crime, which your attorney can investigate and which often result in your charges eventually being dismissed.
Can You Get my Record Expunged or Sealed if I have a Prior Arrest or Conviction?
That’s very jurisdiction-dependent. In New Mexico, for instance, there is essentially no such thing as expungements, so once you have a felony conviction, it will be there for the rest of your life, barring a pardon from the governor, which is rare. You can get things sealed if you were a juvenile at the time, but it’s very hard to get anything expunged, especially felonies.
For more information on Hiring A Private Attorney, a free initial consultation is your best next step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling 575-589-1055 today.