Our lawyers help criminal defendants get a fair trial. The police and prosecutors in your case may want to throw the book at you, but it is our job as defense lawyers to help protect your rights, avoid unfair coercion, and to force them to prove the case before convicting you.
A fair defense does not depend on whether you are guilty or innocent. Everyone deserves a fair defense, and our lawyers will fight to help you with yours.
Contact our criminal defense lawyers at Overson & Bugden by calling (801) 758-2287.
What to Do After Being Arrested for a Crime?
Make sure to take these steps after being charged with a crime:
Call a Lawyer
Call a criminal defense lawyer as soon as you can. We can represent you during any stage of the case, from interrogations through to trial and sentencing. We can help protect your rights and help you avoid being taken advantage of by aggressive police and prosecution tactics.
Do Not Answer Questions
As they say, anything you say can and will be used against you. Do not answer the police’s questions, beyond providing your name and address. Do not give them any ammunition to use against you, and wait for us before you tell them anything.
Get Bail
Fighting your case outside of a jail cell is far better. It can also help you prove you are an upstanding member of society by fulfilling your roles at home as a parent, child, worker, etc.
Attend All Court Dates
If you miss a court date, it can hurt the judge’s image of you. It can also lead to potentially having your bail revoked, so do not risk it.
Avoid Further Charges
Further criminal activity can make you seem guiltier, get your bail revoked, or show the judge you have a lesser chance of reform. Keeping your nose clean during another case can potentially help you attain a good plea deal or avoid worse sentencing outcomes.
What Are the Steps of a Criminal Case?
There are several stages in a criminal case:
Arrest
During an arrest, you will often be physically handcuffed, taken to jail, searched, and booked.
The police may come to arrest you at your house if they have a search warrant and an arrest warrant, or in a public place (e.g., at your workplace). Otherwise, the arrest might happen at the scene of a traffic stop or after some other police interaction where they claim to have witnessed the crime taking place.
Possible Interrogation
After an arrest, the police may want to ask you questions. Politely decline.
Call our criminal defense lawyers as soon as you can. Do not answer questions, and say out loud that you want to use your right to remain silent and your right to an attorney.
Arraignment
At your arraignment, you are formally told what charges you face. At that point, you can enter a “not guilty” plea to continue fighting the charges.
Do not plead guilty, or else you will go straight to sentencing and have a conviction entered. If we can arrange a plea agreement you are satisfied with, you can plead guilty later – if you want to.
Bail
Bail hearings are often done at the same time as arraignments. At this hearing, the judge determines whether you stay in jail or get released, and how much it will cost to release you.
Our criminal defense lawyers want to see our clients outside of jail so they can more easily fight the charges and show they are functioning members of society. However, a judge may deny bail or set it at a high level if they see signs you are a danger to the community or a significant flight risk, so it is up to us to show that is not the case.
Preliminary Hearings
Preliminary hearings are used in some cases. At this stage, the government needs to show they have probable cause to charge you and hold the case over for trial.
This is often a first chance to challenge evidence and see what the government has against you, but it may be a chance to get charges dismissed. We may also want to waive this as part of plea negotiations or a pre-trial diversion program.
Trial
At trial, the prosecution has to prove the case against you by a preponderance of the evidence. We can prepare for trial and fight the case against you in open court.
Sentencing
If you plead guilty or are convicted at trial, the judge sets the sentence at sentencing. The prosecution can make suggestions or avoid certain optional requests, but they cannot tell the judge what sentence to set, even as part of a plea agreement.
What Are the Plea Options in a Criminal Case?
In most criminal cases, the choice is “guilty” or “not guilty.” If you want to continue challenging the charges against you, you generally plead “not guilty.” A guilty plea would end the case and send you straight to sentencing.
There are other pleas you may be able to enter, but they are often used for technical reasons. For example, a “no contest” plea says you will not challenge the charges, functioning like a guilty plea. However, it avoids actually admitting guilt, which would hurt you in any potential civil lawsuits for the same conduct.
Can You Get Community Service Instead of Jail Time?
Sometimes. Community service is sometimes used as part of a plea agreement where you agree to perform community service and perhaps seek treatment in exchange for charges being dropped. This is most common with low-level infractions and first-time offenders.
Can You Get Probation Instead of Jail Time?
Often, probation is used for first-time offenders and lower-level misdemeanor offenses. If there will be no real benefit to putting you in jail – and since jails are often overcrowded to begin with – release on supervision may be the most fair sentence.
What is Probation vs. Parole?
Probation and parole are both supervised release, meaning you are out of jail, but you have to check in with a parole/probation officer and follow terms of release (e.g., avoiding future offenses). The biggest difference is when they are used and what happens if you violate.
- Probation is used instead of jail. If you violate probation, you go to jail for the first time.
- Parole is used as early release after serving a jail/prison term. If you violate parole, you go back to jail/prison and serve out the rest of your original term.
Do You Need an Alibi?
No, but it helps. If we can prove that you were somewhere else when the crime was committed, and that you have witnesses or even security camera footage or cell phone tracking records to back up that alibi, it makes it much harder to bring convincing charges against you.
Call Our Criminal Defense Attorneys in Smithfield Today
Reach out to the criminal defense lawyers at Overson & Bugden for a free case review by calling (801) 758-2287.