Protect Your Rights: The best defense is usually a positive and aggressive one. It takes time to build that kind of defense. That’s why it’s important to retain counsel as soon as you are accused of a crime. The sooner you hire a competent criminal defense lawyer, the better your chances of successfully defending yourself. Clients who don’t retain counsel when they are being investigated often waive important rights or submit to interrogation without a lawyer when it is not advisable to do so. As a result, their honest attempt at cooperation rarely clears them and only helps the investigator corroborate his suspicions. On more than one occasion we have successfully prevented clients from being charged where we were retained early in the course of the investigation, In other cases we have been successful in limiting the scope of the offense charged and the client’s ultimate exposure to punishment.
If you have not been formally charged with a crime, we will contact the investigating agency and try to learn the nature of the investigation. If we decide to cooperate with the investigator and submit to an interrogation, we will be with you. If you are called before a grand jury we will be available to consult with you outside the grand jury room.
Investigate the Accusation: In serious criminal cases, an aggressive defense investigation is critical. That is why we bring a professional and experienced investigator into the case early and initiate our own defense investigation. Early preservation of witness statements and physical evidence can often be crucial. Let’s face it. The government’s investigation is rarely conducted in an attempt to get to the bottom of what actually happened. It is designed to gather evidence to convict a person that someone has accused of a crime or that the investigator thinks is guilty of committing a crime. A defense investigation has to go farther than simply discrediting the prosecution case. We try to get to the bottom of things, preserve critical witness statements and physical evidence that corroborates our client’s defense.
Prepare an Aggressive Defense: If you have already been charged with some type of offense, we will enroll in the appropriate court and begin fighting on your behalf. We will be with you at all court appearances. Depending upon the seriousness and complexity of the case, there are any number of things that will need to be done right away. In all cases, we will file appropriate pre-trial motions to discover as much as possible about the prosecution’s case & to sharpen legal and factual issues before trial.
Fight for you in Court: The decision to go to trial or accept a plea always remains with the client. Fighting an aggressive defense prepares both the case and the client for trial. It also provides an ability to positively influence plea negotiations. We will fight to keep you from being overwhelmed by the system so you can make intelligent and informed decisions about your case. Criminal cases are resolved in one of three ways: dismissal, guilty plea or trial. In appropriate cases we press for outright dismissal. In cases where dismissal is not an attainable goal, we will go to trial, or attempt to negotiate an acceptable plea. In cases that cannot be resolved by dismissal or by an acceptable plea, we will go to trial. We will fight for you as vigorously as possible within the bounds of the law. If we are unsuccessful, we will work to mitigate any sentence and appeal where appropriate. We will fight to give real meaning to the presumption of innocence while holding the government to its burden of proof and keeping you from being overwhelmed by the system. We will be your Champions.
