Will I Have A Criminal Court Appearance In The First Month After An Arrest?

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It’s likely you would have a criminal court appearance in the first month. It will probably be an arraignment commonly referred to as a plea where they tell you what the charges are. My clients and I don’t attend those court hearings. I like to do a written plea of not guilty for these court hearings. There is no need for a client to miss a day’s worth of work to go to an arraignment hearing that is going to be of no use to them.

Will I Be Required To Meet With A Pre-Trial Probation Officer In The First Month After An Arrest?

You may have to meet with a pre-trial probation officer if the court imposes pretrial services in your case. You may be subject to random screenings for drugs and alcohol. Those will be at your expense, and you may have certain other curtailments with liberties. You may also have to meet weekly with this probation officer.

Is It Advisable To Seek Pre-Trial Treatment Or Counseling Before Going to Court?

I don’t think pre-trail counseling or treatment could ever hurt a case. The first thing that I tell clients is what they say in the good book, “It shall come to pass” and you need to look at the situation like it will come to pass, not to stay. You have to get over this, and we have to get you through this. If you have an alcohol or a drug problem and are amenable to taking counseling, then, by all means, let’s get you into counseling. As a strategic matter for the defense, if my client is charged with domestic violence and they have an anger management assessment and seek therapy, if I have to stand with a client before the court and say to the judge, my client has been proactive with treatment, I will use that in the defense.

My client realizes that he has a challenge and he is trying to become a better individual. That works for my purposes, but from a human level if my client has a problem I’d like to see them seek medical treatment for their addictions. From a strategic point of view, it’s always a good idea and for a DUI particularly, to get a driving permit, you can only get a temporary permit if this is your first DUI in Florida. If this is your second DUI or a subsequent DUI, you don’t get to drive legally. You can only receive a temporary permit for a first offense DUI. You have to waive your right to a formal hearing before the DMV, The Department of Highway Safety, and Motor Vehicles, and you have to sign up and attend DUI School. We can treat this as another form of therapy. They may ask that you do additional counseling sessions. If you don’t pass from DUI School, you are not going to get a temporary permit.

What Helpful Advice Do You Give To Your Clients In The First Month After An Arrest?

I explain to my clients that the worst thing you can do is to repeat your activities that got you here in the first place. Don’t repeat. If you repeat and you have arrested again, you are going to jail to spend the remainder of the time in jail until your case is completed or dismissed. Follow whatever the directives are whether it’s the pre-trial services order or the bond order. For instance, if you have a domestic violence case and it says do not contact the victim, don’t communicate with the victim. If they find out that you have, you are going back to jail. You don’t want that. Abide by all the terms and conditions of your pre-trial release.

How Can I Discover Where A Friend Or Family Member has Been Taken After An Arrest?

Unless the arresting officers are undercover agents, they will be identified as Sheriff’s, the Police Department or a highway patrolman. It is just a matter of trying to track down where they likely would have been held. In our area, depending on the county, it is the county lockup. I always tell folks that the first thing to do would be a bonding situation, call a bondsman. If someone calls me in the middle of the night, and I say what happened, and I will always ask where are they. If you know the general location, I will talk to them about contacting a bonding agency because a bondsman needs to be called. They deal with that all the time. Having a bondsman is an excellent resource.

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