CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER FLORISSANT MISSOURI
When you are facing a criminal charge in Florissant Missouri, you basically have two choices: 1) You can hire an expert criminal defense attorney to give you advice and defend your rights, or 2) You can take a gamble, and represent yourself.
If you follow Option #2, you should know that this decision is more than just a simple roll of the dice. You are putting your freedom and future at risk. Why? Because more often than not, an individual who is self-represented usually ends up pleading guilty to the charge(s).
This is exactly what happens when you lack an understanding of how the law works. And thousands of people make the same mistake year after year. But it is the long-term consequences of this decision that will have the most negative impact on your life.
DON’T GO TO COURT ALONE! THE PEOPLE’S COUNSEL IS YOUR #1 DEFENSE TEAM
Let’s say you have been charged with disturbing the peace. If you choose not to retain a good Florissant MO criminal defense lawyer, then you will walk into court all by yourself. You will have to stand at the podium in front of the judge alone. You’ll have to make your way through a maze of prosecutors, clerks, bailiffs, and security guards, on your own.
If that sounds frightening, then just wait, because it gets even worse! This is because although you do have the right to represent yourself (without the aid of a criminal defense attorney to protect your interests), the court will treat you as if you are in fact an attorney. In other words, the right to self-representation comes with a catch: the judge will speak to you in the same way he/she does every other licensed attorney. Which means that if you do not possess the same level of knowledge as a regular Florissant MO criminal defense attorney, the court will not give you any leeway.
And this is precisely why most people throw away their rights and privileges, and simply plead guilty. But let’s take a closer look at what will happen if you were to plead guilty to that disturbing the peace charge mentioned earlier. This is a misdemeanor-level crime, which comes with potential jail time and a large fine.
FLORISSANT MO CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY
But in all honesty, the possibility of sitting in a jailcell or paying off a huge fine are only examples of the short-term consequences you can expect. It’s the more long-term issues you will end up facing that will have you sweating. Because that admission of guilt will go on your permanent record as a criminal conviction. And there it will stay, forever serving as a negative mark on your future.
For example, when you go to apply for a job, the employer will almost assuredly run a criminal background check (these can easily be purchased because they are part of the public record). More often than not, a conviction on your record will result in you being eliminated as a candidate. Or when you go to rent an apartment, most landlord will run a background check and reject your rental application once they see the conviction.
But this is not how your life has to turn out! The much easier path to follow would be to exercise Option #1 (from above). That would involve hiring The People’s Counsel to defend your Constitutional rights against the charges that have been brought against you. Our team has handled hundreds of cases in Florissant, and we are ready to help you! All you need to do is give us a call.
Our defense strategy follows a very straightforward path: 1) To begin with, we will want to get as much information from you as we can. Every single detail that might provide us with a better chance of defending your position. This step is vitally important because even those seemingly insignificant facts surrounding your case can make a huge difference in the outcome.
2) Our Florissant Missouri criminal defense attorney will let the court and prosecutor know that we are now representing you on this matter. Once this is established, all future communication will be between The People’s Counsel and the court. In other words, from that moment forward, we will speak on your behalf.
3) We will then determine if there is any possibility of getting the charges dismissed. Depending on the facts of your case, it is sometimes possible to provide the prosecutor with evidence that will result in a dismissal.
4) If a dismissal is not available, the next course of action for our Florissant MO criminal defense lawyer will be to work closely with the local prosecutor to see if the charges can be amended to a lesser infraction. So if you are charged with disturbing the peace, our team might be able to negotiate a deal in which that misdemeanor charge is reduced to something like “littering” (a low-level infraction which does not show up on your record).
5) If an amendment cannot be worked out, you may also have an opportunity to enter into an “SIS” (which stands for, Suspended Imposition of Sentence). In this kind of scenario, the judge orders that you be placed on probation. This period of time is usually one to two years in length. If you are able to go through the entire probationary period without any new issues, then the court will drop the original charge altogether.
6) And if all else fails, then we will be more than ready to take your case to trial. Although not very many cases are actually taken that far, it is a distinct possibility, and our team is ready for it! In a nutshell, it is the prosecutor’s duty to prove that you are in fact guilty of the charge that has been leveled against you. This is a very steep hill to climb, and if the prosecutor fails to prove up all the elements of the criminal statute under which you were charged, then you will be found Not Guilty.
In order to learn more about this process, please do get in touch with us soon. But please do not wait until the last minute. The more time we have to gather evidence and information, the better off your case will be. We look forward to hearing from you!!