Here are just a few important issues

you should know about Criminal

Law?

With over a million federal and state laws in

this country, even the most prudent of us
could face criminal charges, sooner or later.

What you should know, as a general rule, is

that arrest warrants are seldom used for making an arrest in public places. In fact it is
held that arrest warrants are not even constitutionally required, despite the fact that
the police have ample time to obtain one.

The 4th Amendment to our Constitution, which applies to all States via the 14th
Amendment, prohibits Governmental entities, such as Police from unreasonable search
and seizures of the People.

Arrest of a person falls within the 4th Amendment concept of seizure and it must be
reasonable. An Arrest happens, when the police take a person into custody for the
purpose of criminal prosecution.

Probable cause means that the facts and circumstances, under which the Police make
the arrest, must be trustworthy enough that a reasonable person would think that the
suspect has committed the crime, for which he or she is being arrested. As mentioned
earlier, generally, a warrant is not required for the police to arrest someone.

However, if there is no urgent situation also known as Exigent Circumstances, the

police may not enter a private home to make a warrantless arrest. On the other hand, if
there is an exigent circumstance so that it is impractical for the police to delay the entry
and arrest the suspect, until procuring a warrant, no warrant is necessary; even to enter
a private home, in order to make the arrest.

Examples of Exigent Circumstances

are:

1. Destruction of Evidence: If the police

have reasonable causes to believe that
the suspect will destroy the evidence,
such as flushing down the toilet a
contraband drug like cocaine, then the
police may enter the home and make an
arrest without a warrant.
2. Evanescent Evidence: The U.S. Supreme Court has held that obtaining some highly
prejudicial evidence procured in violation of 4th Amendments search and seizure such
as: forcefully obtaining blood alcohol level from an inebriated (drunk) person or
scraping the defendants fingernails for blood and other materials is nonetheless legal.

That is because these evidences are Evanescent, which means, they may disappear due
to washing hand or sleeping it off, etc.

3. Hot Pursuit: If a felony suspect enters his or her or someone elses home, and the
police is in hot pursuit, a warrantless entry to make an arrest under the doctrine of Hot
Pursuit is allowed.

Please note that the 4th amendment does not make a distinction between
misdemeanor or felony crime, when it comes to arrests. Police officers have gotten
away with arresting people for minor violations such as not wearing a seatbelt. Atwater
v. City of Lago Vista is one of such atrocious cases.

Could a suspect refuse to cooperate with the law enforcement?

A suspect does not have a constitutional right to refuse providing accurate

identification information. That is because, such information are not within the 5th
Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

What is Stop & Frisk?

A police may stop a suspect, if they have a reasonable suspicion, based on articulable
facts, please pay attention here; reasonable suspicion is a much lower standard than
probable cause, (not just a haunch) that the suspect has committed or is about to
commit a crime.

This is for the purpose of

investigation only.

If the Police is reasonably suspicious

that the suspect possesses contraband
and or is armed and presently
dangerous, then they may frisk the
suspect for arms or contrabands. This
investigation must take no longer than
time, reasonably, needed to conduct
the investigation.

What do I do after Formal Charges have been filed against me?

The 6th Amendment to the United States Constitution gives all criminal suspects the
Right to representation by a Competent Lawyer. This Constitutional right prohibits the
Police from interrogating an accused outside the presence of his or her attorney after
the Defendant has been formally charged.

Of course, if the defendant wishes, he or she can waive the right to a lawyer.

Please note: That a defendant has Two Rights to counsel.

1. Sixth Amendment right to Counsel, which is mandated after formal proceedings

have begun. Thus, if the accused is arrested, but not yet charged, he/she does not have
the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The Sixth Amendment right to have a lawyer
present, is offense specific. This means, a defendant can be questioned about an
unrelated offense, without violating his or her right to counsel.

A different offense must have additional elements, which must be proven by the
prosecutor beyond a reasonable doubt, which are not required by the charged crime/s.

2. Fifth Amendment right to Counsel under Miranda v. Arizona, also known as Miranda
Rights. The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination mandates that a
person under custody must be informed of the following rights prior to interrogation:

He or she has the Right to remain Silent. Please note that the Police or Prosecutor
cannot use your silence against you. So one should not fear that silence in the face of
accusations would be a sign of guilt.

Anything that he or she says can be used against him or her in a Court of Law.

He or she has a Right to an Attorney being present during questioning.

Please note again that police do not have to immediately provide the suspect a lawyer.
The police can postpone its questioning to a later date, or question the suspect if he or
she waives this right.

If he or she cannot afford an

Attorney, one will be appointed
free of charge, if he or she wants
one.

Waiver: After being read the

Miranda rights, a suspect may
waive his right to a lawyer and his
right to remain silent.
THE RIGHT TO HAVE A LAWYER PRESENT

According to U.S. vs. Wade and Gilbert vs. California cases, a suspect has an absolute
right to have a lawyer present after indictment, in any critical stages of pretrial
confrontation.

Therefore, you have a right to have your attorney present during lineups (which the
witness picks the suspect from a group of people, who, hopefully, somewhat resemble
the suspect. Such as similar heights, ethnicity, skin color, etc.

And during Show ups:

Show up is the process of showing the suspect alone to the witness and asking, if
he/she were the perpetrator of the crime. Waiver has been the subject of much debates
and court arguments. A waiver of your rights to counsel must be Intelligent and
Knowing.

However, many courts have ruled that if a suspect voluntarily, without trickery and
coercion expresses that he or she does not want a lawyer and makes an statement,
then the right to a lawyer and the right to remain silent have been effectively waived.

Please also note: Silence alone is not an effective waiver. In other words, a valid waiver
is not presumed simply from silence of the suspect after Miranda Warnings are read.

Please also note: Just because the Miranda Warnings mention the right to a Lawyer,
the failure to give this warning only violates the defendants Fifth Amendment right to
be free from compelled self-incrimination, and not the Sixth Amendment right to
counsel.
This is just a drop in the bucket of our judicial systems complicated criminal law maze.
When it comes to our Judicial System, most often the intricacies of the laws and
procedures, which can be interpreted in infinite ways, makes or breaks a case.

This is why, someone once said, A person who represents himself, has a fool for a
client. And the opposite is also true: An incompetent lawyer can endanger the liberty
and even life of an innocent person.

This is why we created www.ChosenLawyers.com. We try our best to bring you some of
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