University City Missouri Criminal Defense Attorney

University City Municipal Court Info

Hours: 8:00AM – 4:30PM, Monday – Friday
Court Phone: 314-505-8578
Court Administrator: LaRette Reese
Municipal Judge: Douglas Sidel

Reviews for The People’s Counsel

★★★★★
“Highly recommend if you are looking for a trustworthy team to work on your behalf!”
—Ashley R.

★★★★★
“Charles and Tom are the BEST criminal defense lawyers EVER!!”
—James T.

★★★★★
“Great price, great communication, great lawyer!!”
—Teighlor P.

★★★★★
“I have worked with Charles Barberio twice now and have been incredibly impressed with his professionalism…”
—Carrie G.

WHEN YOU ARE FACING CRIMINAL CHARGES IN UNIVERSITY CITY MO, THE PEOPLE’S COUNSEL WILL FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS

At The People’s Counsel, our mission is simple: We will make sure that your Constitutional rights are upheld by providing you with the strongest team of University City MO criminal defense lawyers in the state of Missouri.

How exactly do we go about providing such strong legal representation? There is a multi-step process that our team follows (which will be discussed in depth below). But there is one thing that should be pointed out first.

Not only do we believe that everyone is entitled to legal representation (especially when the government has charged you with a crime that can severely impact the rest of your life), at The People’s Counsel we also believe that our clients should have the peace the of mind that comes with knowing that their rights will be zealously protected. That only the very best Missouri criminal defense attorneys will be representing their interests in court (whether it is in front of the judge, or in discussions with the local prosecutor). This is the pledge we make to every single client that chooses us to help them in their time of need.

YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS SHOULD BE FULLY PROTECTED

So let’s take a look at exactly how we will go about ensuring that your rights are protected. Although our approach may seem lengthy, it is the only way to fully fight back against the charges that have been leveled against you. And if prosecutor in University City Missouri has charged you with something, it will almost certainly be a misdemeanor crime (which can carry potential jail time and a large fine, to say nothing of the stain it would leave on your permanent record).

  1. The first step that our University City Missouri criminal defense team takes is to notify the court that we will be representing you on the charge(s). This may seem like an insignificant step, but it actually has a great deal of meaning for you. Because our notification to the court signals that your rights are now being protected by a team that has well over ten (10) years of experience defending some the most complex cases across the state. In addition, once we take over your case, you will not have to worry about communicating with the court any longer. From that moment forward, all discussion and negotiations will be had between our team and the prosecutor.
  2. We will thoroughly review any and all evidence that the police and/or prosecutor has against you. This will initially be in the form of the Police Report (which is a written description of the events that led up to you being charged, albeit from the slanted point of view of the officer you interacted with). This is an incredibly important part of the process, because the collection of evidence often presents certain opportunities in defending your rights. For instance, if the police officer in your case violated your Constitutional rights while performing his/her duties, then it may be possible to get the charges dismissed. And because police officers are human beings who often make mistakes (or take misguided shortcuts), these types of violations occur all the time.
  3. If a dismissal is not available, we still have a chance to get the charges reduced (so that there is no long-term impact on your future). In fact, the vast majority of all criminal cases in Missouri involve experienced attorneys (like our University City MO criminal defense lawyers at The People’s Counsel) who work out “plea bargains” with the prosecutor. This kind of deal requires a great deal of complex negotiations in order to get the misdemeanor charges reduced down to a lesser offense. If we are successful in achieving this goal, the prosecutor will recommend to the judge that you plead to a minor infraction (such as “Littering”). Such minor infractions do not ever show up on your permanent record (which will in turn make your future much brighter, because most employers, landlords, and financial institutions run criminal background checks on all of their applicants).

UNIVERSITY CITY MISSOURI CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER

  1. Sometimes a plea bargain cannot be worked out. When that happens to be the case, there are still a couple of other options at our disposal. The first would be an SIS (which stands for Suspended Imposition of Sentence). In this alternative approach, we would convince the judge that you should not do any jail time, nor pay any fine. Instead, you would be placed on probation (for one to two years in length). If you make it through the probationary period without any fresh run-ins with the law, then the original misdemeanor charge will not show up on your record.

And of course, there is always the chance that your case could go to trial. Having a criminal trial at the municipal level is rare, but our legal defense team is ready for such a possibility. In this kind of scenario, we would force the prosecutor to prove that you are guilty of the charge. This may seem like a very straightforward statement; it is anything but! And if the prosecution fails to prove any element of the statute under which you have been charged, then our team will waste little time in asking that the judge find you Not Guilty.

So if you are facing criminal charges in University City Missouri, please do get in touch with us right away. Our team will get to work on your case immediately, and devise an effective defense strategy to uphold your rights. We look forward to hearing from you!!