"Cross Examination of an FBI Witness"

ACCUSED OF A CRIME- WHAT SHOULD I DO?

 Once you have been arrested or charged with a crime, the course of your life and of the decisions that will control it have been removed from your hands by the State.   The tremendous weight and power of the government has been interposed between you and your individual liberty, and you will not be free to go on about your life until those charges have been addressed, resolved and disposed.    The most critical decision that you will ever make is the selection of your advocate and shield: your Criminal Defense Attorney.

You will want someone with experience in all kinds of cases, who has plead for the   guilty as well as for the innocent, someone who has represented hundreds of clients in every circumstance, and in whom you can place both your trust and your most guarded confidences with assurance; you will need an attorney with steady judgment and excellent repute, a  compassionate and insightful tactician who can find a workable solution which might elude or fail to occur to others, and a gifted courtroom advocate and fighter, one who will not be intimidated by either a seemingly implacable prosecutor nor a heavy-handed judge to whom your Not Guilty plea is an impediment to courtroom efficiency.

The most important thing that you can do to assist yourself if you are in this situation is to find an attorney, and find one promptly.   Learn everything you can about his or her experience and reputation.    But in the final analysis, you must feel comfortable working with the attorney you choose because you will be expected to be totally candid and forthright with him, and you may have to hear some unpleasant realities about your case from her.   It is in the nature of human experience that not all cases can have the outcome we most desire.  Hard choices will have to be faced and made, and you will need feel assured that despite the evidence or actual facts of the case, especially if it is damaging or damning to you, your attorney will act always in your best interests and will offer you advice which s/he believes will  benefit you most, or harm you least, in the final analysis.  

 Whether you or your loved one have already been arrested, or whether you have ?heard? that they are looking for you, the sooner you can get an experienced lawyer situated between the authorities and yourself, the better the outcome is likely to be.  It is never too early to seek legal counsel, as many poor souls who tried to help themselves by just ?explaining everything? to the police can attest.

                                   BEFORE AN ARREST

 If you believe that the police want to ?talk to you? or are seeking your arrest, get a lawyer!   The first thing to consider is that what you don?t know can hurt you- depend upon it!   Whether or not you believe yourself innocent or have a reasonable explanation, without knowing what the police believe they know, or have been told, you can only hurt yourself by giving a statement.   Therefore: make no statements other than, ?I would like to call an attorney, please?.

 Even in an initial contact with the police, once you learn that they wish to speak with you, your experienced attorney will almost certainly be able to get more information about the reasons for their interest in you than you can, and they will be less likely to be deceitful in their explanation,  as they might be if they wished to persuade you to give a statement.

 Every citizen has the right to remain silent: corporate executives do it everyday when subpoenaed to testify by Congress!   Using this right costs you nothing, legally or financially;  waiving or giving up this right can cost you dearly- perhaps years of your life.   Speak to an attorney before giving any statements!

 You also have ancient and noble rights to be secure in your ?homes and persons?, and to be protected against unreasonable or illegal searches and seizures.  In practice, you should expect that the Police will do what ever they wish regarding a search of your person, your car or your home, but do not add your consent to that search.  It may mean the difference between the admission or suppression of a mountain of evidence against you.

 Whether or not the police are acting in a way that a Court later finds to be proper, it is never a good idea to resist arrest or search, other than to verbally assert your rights.   Any perceived physical resistance on your part would be grounds for additional charges against you, not to mention a police ?justification? for the physical harm that they may claim was occasioned thereby.

 Finally, it is always better to arrange a voluntary surrender through your attorney: not only will you avoid being handcuffed in front of your wife, your children or your business colleagues, but the ?fact? that you came in on your own will go a long way towards producing a favorable bail or release condition for your return to court.

         IF YOU HAVE BEEN ARRESTED

Do not make any statements or ?confessions? to the police.   Statements that you think are helpful to you may in turn out to fill in gaps in the prosecution?s case, like admissions, for example, that you were at a certain place at a certain time.   Despite what you have learned at school, once you have been arrested, the policeman is not your friend!  If they have settled upon you as their ?man?, you are not likely to persuade them yourself that they have made a mistake, and to start again from scratch.

Do not make any statements or discuss your case with anyone other than your attorney. Your story or version of events, if compelling, is best delivered through your attorney once he has determined that it would be helpful;  if it is in your interest at some point in the proceedings for you to speak in this regard, you will have had the benefit of your attorney preparing the proposed listeners, be they a Prosecutor or Jurors, and preparing you for the questioning you will inevitably face.

You should be prepared, however, to answer honestly questions going to what the police call ?pedigree?: name, age and date of birth, residence information, job information and family or friend contact information.  This information is not only necessary to the police in doing their arrest procedures, but it will be presented to the Judge at the time that s/he is asked to decide upon the conditions of your release or detention.    Together with your criminal history, if any, a misstatement about your identity or address information may persuade a judge to set a bail where none might have been required, or to order you detained as a flight risk.

A good attorney will enlist all of the resources that he can on your behalf, starting with the initial Court session and the bail hearings.  He will try to coordinate, with your help, the appearance of members of your family in the court and the lining up of assets for potential bail or security on a bond.

 Once he has spoken with you at length, and seen and understood the nature and extent of the charges being brought against you, he will be able to formulate and suggest avenues of investigation, defense or mitigation. A first rate criminal defense attorney ought not only to know criminal law and procedure, he should be fully conversant with psychiatric models of mental disease or disability, modalities of substance abuse treatment which may take the place of penal sanctions, and factors in a client?s personal history which may be offered to explain or mitigate harsh sentences.   And he ought to continue to be vigilant to new studies which might shed light on individual behavior, such as cultural or ethnic norms within a particular client?s national or religious group.

 Your defense attorney should be able to call upon experienced criminal investigators to find witnesses, appropriate experts from ballistics to forensic accounting to counter the prosecution, Psychiatric and Medical experts for client assessments and Sentence Diversion specialists in appropriate cases.  

 And, of course, s/he should have the integrity and ability to negotiate candidly and directly with the prosecutor for a result more favorable than the initial ?offer?, once that course has been discussed with and agreed to by the client.

 Criminal Defense lawyers and even the term ?criminal defense lawyer? have been given a malign and pejorative cast in recent years by short-sighted and authoritarian commentators who have foolishly presumed that the liberties bequeathed to us by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights would be self-perpetuating.   You now know that this is not necessarily the case. 

Whomever you decide to retain at this critical juncture, you will learn firsthand the value that an independent advocate for your defense has in keeping the playing field level.  Good luck!

This Web-site is not, in and of itself, legal advice which may be relied upon.  Only our direct advice, based upon the facts and circumstances of your case, and the applicable law, may be considered legal advice.   It is the strict policy of the law firm of Philip B. Stone that legal advice is not disseminated, and no person is considered a client of our firm, unless and until a written retainer agreement is signed by that person, and transmitted to us.   Those making initial inquiries or receiving initial consultations, whether in our office, on the telephone or by e-mail, have not received legal advice from us, but only the benefit of our observations upon their own circumstances.   This is not legal advice, and should not be relied upon.