Criminal Defense

A criminal charge places the resources of the state against one individual. The prosecution has investigators, laboratories and the co-operation of the police. What stands opposite that is the burden of proof, the rules of evidence, and an attorney prepared to hold the state to both.

What to do first, and what not to do

If you are being questioned, or believe you may be, say clearly that you wish to speak with an attorney and then stop speaking. This is not an admission and cannot be used as one. The instinct to explain is powerful and almost always damaging: officers conducting an interview are gathering evidence for a prosecution, and an innocent explanation given without advice is frequently the material from which a case is built.

Do not consent to a search of your vehicle, your telephone or your home. Refusing consent is not obstruction and is not evidence of guilt. Where officers have a warrant they do not need consent, and where they do not, consent supplies the authority that would otherwise be missing. Say that you do not consent, do not physically interfere, and telephone an attorney.

Do not discuss the matter with anyone other than your attorney. Conversations with friends and relatives are not privileged, and those people can be compelled to repeat them. Telephone calls from a jail are recorded, and recorded calls are routinely produced by the prosecution.

How a Missouri prosecution proceeds

A case begins with a complaint or an indictment. The defendant is arraigned, enters a plea and, in a felony matter, may have a preliminary hearing at which the state must show probable cause to proceed. Discovery follows, in which the defence is entitled to the evidence the state holds, including material tending to negate guilt or reduce punishment.

The most consequential stage in many prosecutions is the pretrial motion. Evidence obtained through an unlawful stop, an unlawful search or an interrogation conducted in breach of a defendant's rights may be excluded, and where the excluded material is central the prosecution frequently cannot proceed. These motions are won on detail: the precise time the stop began, what the officer knew at each moment, what was said, and whether the detention was extended beyond the time reasonably required for its original purpose.

We obtain and examine the recordings, the dispatch logs, the calibration and maintenance records of any instrument used, and the training and disciplinary history of the officers concerned. Cases that appear straightforward on the charging document frequently are not once that material has been reviewed.

Driving while intoxicated

Missouri charges impaired driving as driving while intoxicated. A DWI arrest sets two separate matters running at once, and clients regularly do not realise this until one of them has been lost.

The first is the criminal prosecution. The second is an administrative proceeding by the Department of Revenue concerning your driving privilege, which follows its own procedure and its own deadlines. A request for an administrative hearing must be made within a strictly limited period after the arrest, and failing to make it in time forfeits the licence irrespective of what happens in the criminal court. Bring the paperwork you were given at the arrest to your consultation, and bring it promptly.

The evidence in these prosecutions is technical and is frequently vulnerable. Breath instruments require maintenance and calibration on a documented schedule, and the operator must hold a current permit and follow a prescribed observation procedure. Blood draws must be properly taken, labelled and preserved, and the chain of custody must be complete. Field sobriety tests are validated only when administered exactly as prescribed, which on review they frequently are not.

Consequences beyond the sentence

The sentence is not the whole of what a conviction costs. A criminal record affects employment, professional licensure, housing, credit, and eligibility for certain benefits, and it does so for far longer than any period of supervision.

For a person who is not a United States citizen, the immigration consequences of a plea may be considerably more severe than the sentence. Certain dispositions carry mandatory removal, and some do so even where the sentence is suspended and no time is served. A plea that appears favourable in the criminal court can end a person's lawful residence. One of our attorneys practises in both criminal defense and immigration, and where a client's status is in question that analysis is carried out before any plea is entered rather than afterwards.

Missouri law permits the expungement of certain records after a qualifying period, which can remove a large part of the continuing burden of an old conviction or arrest. Not every offence is eligible and the procedure has requirements, but where it is available it is frequently the most valuable thing we can do for a client whose case concluded years ago.