Under almost any case scenario, you should hire a New York criminal defense attorney immediately after you’ve been charged with a crime. It’s a good idea even if you believe you are the subject of a criminal investigation. Read on to learn about why this timing is important if you’ve been charged with a criminal offense in New York.
Early Stages
If your attorney is with you right from the start, then the lawyer won’t have to play catch up– they are more capable of building your defense from the very beginning. Your lawyer won’t have to fill in the gaps because they are already familiar with your case at its inception. When you have representation right away, you’re less likely to make a mistake or say something wrong to the police or other law enforcement agency.
Talking to the Police
When individuals have their initial encounters with the police, they sometimes believe that they will be able to have a productive conversation with the police. During an interrogation, a person talking to law enforcement may think that If only they can provide an explanation from their point of view, then everything will be cleared up. This is partially because many officers will use this narrative. They will lean on their subjects to merely tell the truth and then convince them that everything will be just fine, once they do this.
However, more often the case is that whatever you say to law enforcement, you may come to regret it. They will try to bond with you, but you can’t ever go into an interrogation believing that the police are your friends when you are part of an investigation for a New York criminal offense. They have a job to do. Afterall, police officers are specifically trained to obtain information from you. After they have that information from you, and when they have your statements on the record, they can take the statements and use them against you; they can take them out of context as well.
And the police are allowed to lie to you to extract that information. For instance, an officer might say to you “If you just tell me the truth, then I will stop talking to you and you can leave.” But that doesn’t happen. Instead, they leave, and you end up in custody.
If you have a lawyer from the beginning, you will be ensured that you don’t inadvertently say something wrong to the police because you can invoke your right to counsel just as soon as your Miranda rights are given to you.
Contact a New York Criminal Defense Attorney at MOWK Law if You’ve Been Charged
Whether you’ve been charged with a DWI, sex offense, theft, or a white-collar crime, timing is important to your criminal case. Waiting until your case is already advancing through the justice system is not the way to go, if you want the best outcome possible. Don’t wait to get a lawyer involved from the beginning. MOWK Law has experienced lawyers who can mount a solid defense for you right away and let you know your options. Contact us immediately.