Non-DUI Misdemeanor and Felony Precharge Criminal Cases
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Need a Criminal Lawyer in Arizona? Contact David Michael Cantor if you need assistance with Non-DUI Misdemeanor or Felony Precharge Criminal Cases.
Whether in the Phoenix area, or anywhere in Arizona, if you are arrested, questioned and released without a citation (or if the police are attempting to contact you regarding criminal allegations from another person) then you are currently in the “Precharge/ Investigation Stage” of a criminal case. This is the most important time to hire a Criminal Lawyer in Arizona. It is better to never be charged than to be charged and have the charges dismissed five (5) minutes later. Once you have been charged, this information will always be logged inside of a computer, and you will always have to explain yourself when filling out job applications. In addition, on certain types of cases, once charged you will sit in custody and be designated as “non-bondable” until the case resolves. This means that if you have a million dollars in your pocket, you may still sit in custody (potentially) for up to one (1) year or more.
In regards to potential criminal charges, the first thing that we will do after we are retained as your Criminal Lawyer in Arizona is attempt to contact the Officers or Detectives involved in your case. We will do this in order to open up dialog in order to prevent any filing of charges, or reduce the charges they may request when they submit your case to the Prosecutor. Secondly, we will contact the Prosecutor’s office and discuss your case with the Charging Prosecutor. Naturally, we will attempt to either assure that your case is not charged, or have them charge it to the lowest possible offense. In addition, we will ask the Prosecutor to serve us with the Summons directly. Beware: the Prosecutor does not have to honor our request and can either mail the Summons to your address obtained on the date of the alleged violation, or issue a direct “Bench Warrant” for your arrest. We will check periodically with the Court to see if the Prosecutor filed charges without notifying us. If a Bench Warrant is discovered, we will call you immediately and file a Motion to Quash Bench Warrant with the Court. We will then accompany you to Court, quash the Bench Warrant and enter a plea of “Not Guilty”.
We also will be attempting to obtain the police report involved in your case. Normally we are not allowed to have access to it as your Criminal Lawyer in Arizona while the investigation is still pending. However, mistakes are sometimes made in the Records Department and they will accidentally furnish us with the police report. When and if we receive the report, we will review it with you in our office. We will attempt to interview any known civilian witnesses during this pre-charge stage. Normally the Officers or Detectives will not grant us an interview while the investigation is pending.
If your case involves specific false allegations of conduct, we may suggest that you have a polygrapher conduct a polygraph examination (i.e., a “lie detector test”). In addition, it may benefit you to have a Private Investigator do some research into your case. This will only occur after we have sat down with you and discussed these options in the privacy of our offices. Normally polygraphs and Private Investigators are only necessary in very specific instances. If your case involves the taking of blood, we may want to do an independent test of the blood sample that the police are holding.
If there is a specific alleged victim involved in your case, your Criminal Lawyer in Arizona may attempt to contact them in order to work out a “civil settlement”. This is normally involved in cases where there is a loss of money or damage to property. If we are able to work out a resolution, we will have the alleged victim sign a release document which states that they do not wish to seek criminal prosecution, and that they have been fully satisfied for any and all claims. This document can go a long way to dissuading a Detective or Prosecutor from pursuing charges any further. Even though they cannot actually ban the Prosecutor from bringing charges, it does have a dissuading effect on the alleged victim from pressing forward with the State in their case against you.
If your case is a potential felony, your Criminal Lawyer in Arizona will send a letter to the Charging Prosecutor (including all of the information we have obtained regarding your case) indicating why you should not be charged. In addition, we will request that you be allowed to be present if any Grand Jury proceeding is to take place. Normally, we do not actually anticipate having you appear at a Grand Jury proceeding, however, this does tend to dissuade a Prosecutor from bringing charges. Further, if a Grand Jury proceeding is held without notification to us (in order to allow you to make a statement), then we can have the entire case thrown out due to a faulty Grand Jury proceeding if you are eventually charged. If the felony Prosecutor decides not to proceed by way of Grand Jury, and instead issues a Direct Complaint, we will indicate in our letter to him that we will accept Service of Summons. This will allow the Prosecutor the opportunity to serve us directly rather than having you either served a Summons at work, or arrested on some later date. Although the Prosecutor does not have to honor our request for acceptance of Service, they almost always do, thereby preventing any type of potential embarrassment. Be sure you review our Non-DUI Misdemeanor and Felony Precharge Criminal case wins.
It is important to hire an AV® rated law firm (the highest possible rating by Martindale Hubbell®). Also David Michael Cantor is a Criminal Lawyer in Arizona and a Certified Criminal Law Specialist, per the Arizona Board of Legal Specialization. In addition, the Firm and all of its lawyers are listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers®. At DM Cantor, the majority of our Attorneys are ex-Prosecutors, and all of our Lawyers in Arizona know the system well. For a free initial consultation, call us at 602-307-0808, or click here to contact us now.
Contact DM Cantor and speak to a Criminal Lawyer in Arizona about your case. We handle DUI/ DWI cases, vehicular crimes, homicide, drug and sex offenses, white collar crimes, property crimes and other violent crimes.