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If you find yourself charged with a crime and your liberty is somehow threatened (for instance, with potential jail time), you’re eligible under the United States constitution to be represented by an attorney.
Get Legal Help Early
It’s important to employ a criminal defense lawyer to represent you as soon as possible along the way, ideally at arraignment. A criminal defense attorney can:
- Challenge probable cause for arrest
- Argue in favor of being released on your own recognizance or on very low bail
- Negotiate plea bargains with prosecutors
- Discuss the pros and cons of going to trial
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of pleading guilty
Getting a Public Defender Appointed
If you cannot afford to rent a legal representative from private legal community, a legal court can sign up a government-paid lawyer known as a “public defender” to fully handle your case.
To be able to employ a public defender, you must convince the judge that you can’t pay for to hire a legal professional by yourself. The judge may ask you to complete a form describing your savings, assets, earnings and financial obligations. You can even need to provide the court with documentation like paystubs to prove your income level.
Standards for what kind of money you may earn and still be eligible for a a public defender differ greatly from state to state, and sometimes from one court to another.
In rural areas and in courts with meager resources, there may not be public defenders working with the court to fully handle your case. In that case, the court will most likely appoint a private attorney at public expense, or assign a private attorney originating from a volunteer attorney list to fully handle your case.
In certain courts, judges allow for what’s called “partial indigency” representation: you have the help of a public defender, but are expected to reimburse the court a part of the price of representation after the trial.
If you give false information to the court so that you can get a public defender appointed, you could be charged with the crime of falsifying information.
If the court establishes that you’re making too much money to be eligible for a a public defender, you have to immediately search for a private attorney to defend you.
Disadvantages of a Public Defender
One downside of being represented by a public defender is the fact that these government-paid practitioners often have a huge overload of cases, and can’t devote a long time to any one case. Subsequently, you might have minimum access to your lawyer except during actual court hearings.
Public defenders also often lack office equipment and adequate research access, and can’t afford to rent investigators to properly flesh your case.
Public defenders are usually young and inexperienced, and are “cutting their teeth” on high-volume misdemeanor cases for example DWIs.
A public defender also won’t have the capacity to help you understand related civil law or administrative matters (like license revocation hearings in the DWI case). You’ll want to hire another attorney that can assist you with these concerns.
Advantages of a Public Defender
Public defenders work with the same judges and prosecutors day in and day out, and get acquainted with their personal quirks, peeves and tolerances. In addition, they see the same cops testifying, and know who’s apt to be a bad (and good) witness.
Public defenders usually work in “niched” aspects of legal specialty, such as DWI or domestic violence defense. So they tend to be up-to-date on new law and legal theories in their area of specialty.
A public defender may very well be very efficient at sizing up your case and presenting a suitable plea bargain deal to the prosecutor and judge. As a result, you will be finished with the criminal process and also on with the remainder of your life earlier than had you been represented by the private attorney.
Second Guessing Your Public Defender
Once you’ve been appointed a public defender, it’s often very difficult, if not impossible, to have your attorney replaced with another public defender.
If you are having doubts about advice your public defender gives you, make an appointment for a “second opinion” consultation with a private criminal defense attorney. Most lawyers are able to consult for a small fee, and you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing your public defender is on track.
For help with a DUI Savannah GA, call a Savannah DUI lawyer.