Utica Criminal Lawyers
Your life’s on the line after being charged with a crime and it is time that you fight with everything inside of you. Although a felony charge is the most serious of charges, even a misdemeanor conviction has the potential to devastate your life. If convicted, not only may you land in jail or prison, you may also be ordered to pay fines, attend court-ordered rehabilitation, be put on probation or parole, or face any number of other penalties. If that weren’t enough, criminal convictions leave your reputation and good name ruined. This may cause trouble when it is time to find employment, rent or buy a home, or even make friends! Whether you’ve been charged with assault or a more serious charge like manslaughter, you need the legal competence that a lawyer brings to the case to keep you out of hot water.
How Does an Attorney Benefit Your Criminal Case?
When dealing with life-altering matters, the expertise that an attorney brings to the table is invaluable. You’ll have peace of mind knowing the attorney is there to prepare a defense strategy and to be your voice in court. The attorney knows the laws surrounding your specific criminal matter and takes every additional step necessary to woo the case in your favor. No one wants to spend any length of time behind bars. If one person understands this, it is your attorney. This legal expert fights for your freedom and your rights with the intelligent wit and expertise that only an attorney has. You should never risk your life to go to court to face a criminal charge without an attorney there to represent your case.
What Happens if I am Convicted of a Crime?
If you are convicted of a misdemeanor crime, you can be sent to jail for a period of up to 11 months, 29 days. Additionally, the judge may place you on probation or parole, order you to take special classes, suspend your driving privileges or other rights, initiate fines, and more. Additionally, the conviction is public information that anyone can access at any time, whether it is for employment consideration or something else. A conviction could very well cause a denial in your request and a tarnished name. Felony crimes are more serious than misdemeanors. A condition could land you in prison for a period of no less than one year, with a potential of life in prison for certain charges, like murder. The same fines, classes, and consequences of a misdemeanor conviction are posed when convicted of a felony. It is scary to even think about going to jail for a month, much less calling that tiny 6 x 8 cell home for many years in the future. Our attorneys fight to prevent this from occurring.
Protect Your Rights
The judicial system promises innocence until proven guilty but anyone with any experience with the courts knows all-to-well that so often things do not happen this way and instead, you’re automatically presumed guilty before the case is heard in court. It is hard to get a fair trial when someone looks at you with the assumption that you are guilty of the crime. This is not justice and should never be the way any criminal case is handled. When a lawyer represents your case, there is less risk that you’ll be wrongly convicted and if you are convicted of the crime, will face a less harsh penalty. It is beneficial to hire an attorney because going to court alone is very scary, especially when your life and good name are both on the line. Attorneys protect your rights and ensure a fair trial when you go to court. They know the laws and how to keep you safe when the prosecution team is in full force, ready to pounce and convict you of the charge.
Schedule a Free Consultation
Free consultations with our attorney are available to help you learn more about your case and our law firm. There is no obligation to hire after the consultation, but we think you’ll understand the importance of retaining our team when there is so much on the line. No matter what type of criminal charges you are facing, our lawyers have the expertise to represent your case. We’ve handled hundreds of misdemeanor and felony cases over the years and provide each case the same quality representation as the next. Aggressive, hard-hitting representation can make a big difference in the outcome of your criminal matter. When you’re fighting for you life, it is the fight of your life and we’ll make sure you are presented accordingly. Our attorneys are not afraid to go to bat for our clients. Protecting our clients lives’ and their best interests in a cause we’ve dedicated our lives to. Schedule a consultation to discuss the details of your case and learn the next steps best to take.
Utica Federal Criminal Lawyers
You are under arrest. You have been read your rights, taken into custody, and charged. It is a difficult and frightening time. The fact that has struck the most fear in you is that the warrant for your arrest was written and executed by federal authorities.
An arrest for a federal crime is a serious matter. You should be in no doubt about your situation: you are in big trouble. If a federal law enforcement agency has come after you, the federal prosecutors who handle the case will not rest until they have a conviction or have extracted some other concession that is of value to them.
Federal authorities can call upon the resources of the United States government. They will have access to some of the best experts, labs, data bases, and other professionals and facilities to be found anywhere in the world. Federal law enforcement officers are highly trained, and they maintain the highest standards in surveillance, evidence collection, and other basic police processes. Federal prosecutors are among some of the best prosecutors in the nation. If the federal government has built a case against you, then they no doubt have something.
However, not even the federal authorities can circumvent the Constitution to get a conviction. Your arrest does not mean that all of your rights are suddenly thrown out of the window. The Bill of Rights still applies. And you must exercise the one that is most crucial at this time: your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. If you need help with federal appeals, our federal appeals lawyers can assist with this as well.
No one can compel you to give testimony or evidence that will lead your incrimination; and it is best to keep quiet until your attorney arrives. Federal law enforcement officers are very good at interrogation. They tend to be much more subtle when trying to get information from suspects. They are much too professional to try to coerce, threaten, or bully you. They will, however, make every other effort to get you to say something or write something that can be used against you in court.
Once your lawyer arrives, they will be able to advise you as to the questions you have to answer and those that you do not. Or, if you do not want to answer questions at all at that moment, your lawyer can speak for you.
There are two general situations in which people under arrest find themselves. Either they did not do what they have been accused of and must clear their name or they did do what they are accused of and must work for the best deal possible.
If you are innocent of the charges against you, it is imperative that you hire a lawyer who has extensive expertise and experience in defending people who have been accused of federal crimes. Bank robbery, band fraud, counterfeiting, civil rights offenses, mail fraud, health care fraud, and firearms offenses are federal crimes. If you have been charged with one or more of these, then you need a tough, able, disciplined, and highly skilled federal crimes defence lawyer in your corner.
Although federal authorities are highly professional, they are not perfect. Evidence is not necessarily proof, and not all proof is beyond reasonable doubt. It will be the job of your lawyer to scrutinize what the feds have on you. They will gather the facts, introduce expert and witness testimony, employ forensic evidence when appropriate, and apply those parts of the law that are relevant to your case.
Your lawyer will ensure that you are treated fairly, that you are given an impartial trial, and that any exculpatory evidence that surfaces is brought into the court room.
Depending on what the feds have accused you of and your criminal record, they may try to get the judge to deny you bail. If you do not have a criminal record, and you are a person of good standing in your community, then your attorney will see to it that you get bail.
Going up against a federal prosecutor is no easy task. You should not put your life into the hands of an attorney who is unseasoned—who has little or no experience with such cases. Defence lawyers who specialize in federal crimes understand the systems, structures, and processes that govern how federal prosecutors pursue a case. Such defence lawyers will have deep knowledge and insight as to the various motions, filing, and actions that the counsellor they are up against will undertake. You need someone with this kind of understanding on your side. They can ensure that the truth comes out, and that you are able to demonstrate your innocence decisively in court.
If the charges are dropped or you win the case, you will also need an attorney to help you rebuild your name and reputation. Federal court cases can be highly visible. You have your family and career to think about, so you will need to ensure that the public knows that you are innocent of the crime you were accused of.
You will also need a lawyer for the other instance: the one in which you are guilty as charged. If this is the case, then you will need your attorney to help get you the best deal possible. If you are part of or associated with a larger organization that the feds are looking at you can leverage your inside knowledge to get a less severe sentence.
The authorities may be after someone who is much more significant than you; they may want to bring down the top people in whatever activity you were involved in. Your attorney can negotiate with federal prosecutors on your behalf. If you have information that they deem vital, then your lawyer will drive a hard bargain so that you get a deal that is commensurate with your value to their investigation and that is fair to you.
It is important to hire a lawyer with significant experience defending clients like you. It takes a special kind of defence lawyer to go up against the federal government. You want such a professional on your side.