An attorney is the legal professional you hire if you have been accused of a crime and are facing serious penalties or are even facing the potential of a prison sentence. What you need specifically is to hire the services of a skilled, experienced and competent criminal defense lawyer who can do everything in his legal power to fight for your rights.
If your income does not allow for you to hire the best criminal defense lawyer that money can buy then you may be appointed an attorney by the courts. This person is known as a public defender. Everyone is permitted to have legal representation under the law, regardless of whether they have the money to afford legal counsel or not.
If you have been charged with a crime or even if you are a suspect in a crime and the police are looking in your direction then you need to hire an attorney sooner as opposed to later. Before you hire a criminal defense lawyer it would help a great deal to understand what job tasks he will be performing for you as his client.
An attorney who works in criminal defense is busy all of the time. These lawyers work with their clients and the prosecuting attorney to come up with a deal in order to avoid the cost and the time that will be involved in proceeding to a criminal trial. Deals in the legal arena are known as plea bargains and they can help to decrease the sentence the accused may be facing or in some cases they can help to eliminate a certain amount of the charges that have been brought against the individual. There are cases where deals can easily be struck while in other cases they are harder to come to an agreement about.
There is always the chance that you may be found guilty of the crime you have been accused of. Even if your attorney does everything possible to get you a reduced sentence or have you found not guilty the verdict could still end up being guilty for you. If this happens then the legal professional you hired will work with the courts to come up with a sentence that will prevent you from ever getting tangled up in the criminal justice system again. For example, if a drug problem landed you in the system then your lawyer might recommend that instead of you going to prison for 12 months that you spend six months of your sentence in a drug rehabilitation facility and six months in prison. This will help you to get the treatment you need to get better and it lessens the potential that you will re-offend in the future.
Your legal specialist can also be called upon to help you cope with the variety of emotions that you will have to cope with as you go through each step of the legal process. It can be a very stress filled ordeal to be accused of a crime and to be facing the potential for incarceration. You may feel overwhelmed, confused, scared, depressed and embarrassed. You want to find a lawyer who is willing and able to talk with you when these emotions hit you hard.
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