For most people, the answer to this question should be
obvious. Most people are arrested without significant warning or
opportunity to think about what to do. This is especially true in
state court. Those arrested for Federal crimes may well have
significant advance notice of their impending arrest.
For those arrested without warning, the answer to when to
look for a lawyer is as soon as possible. This is the one situation
in which it is not an exaggeration to say that there isn't a moment to
lose. The police are very good at getting people to say all sorts of
things after they are arrested. Having a lawyer involved early on
can put a stop to this and increase the chances that the accused will not
damage his own case.
Most people aren't able to get it together that quickly,
in many cases because nobody knows the person has been arrested often
times until the police have already taken a statement. Although
people popularly believe that an accused has the right to a telephone
call, the police routinely suggest that the people they arrest "refuse" to
make a telephone call.
Family members of people arrested are usually first placed
on notice that there has been an arrest sometime after the arrest
processing has begun. It is then that the family members should
begin to make arrangements for hiring a lawyer.
There is usually about a 24 hour delay between arrest and
the time when the defendant will be brought before a judge for the first
time. That should give family members plenty of time to make
arrangements to speak with a few different lawyers at least about handling
the arraignment. Criminal defense lawyers are keenly aware of the
timing of the process and so they are usually going to be accommodating
and understanding of calls during off business hours.
Many criminal lawyers will return calls late into the
evening when they are related to new arrests because of the urgency of the
situations. You may not get through to the actual office, but you
will usually get a live answering service that will convey your emergency
message to the lawyer for you.
Don't make the mistake of waiting it out to see what
happens if you have the means to hire a private attorney. Most
private attorneys prefer to be involved in their cases from the earliest
possible moment.
When you contact an attorney, make sure to have as much
information about the case as you can gather at this stage including (if
possible):
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The county
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The time of arrest:
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The precinct of arrest:
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The arresting officer's name:
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The current location of the accused (still at the precinct
or transferred to central booking):
-
The arrest number:
-
A general sense of the most serious charges:
At this stage of the case, it may be difficult for the
attorney to quote a precise fee for handling the entire case because the
case may end up being charged differently by the District Attorney's
Office once the case makes it through the intake process. But the
lawyer should be able to give you a ballpark and a fee that will cover the
arraignment (usually credited toward the retainer once it is firmly
established what the charges will be).
Many people end up being arraigned without private
counsel, but are told to hire private counsel after arraignment. At
this stage more information is available to help the lawyer understand the
nature of the charges and what will be involved in preparing a defense.
After arraignment you will have much more time to spend
looking for a lawyer. After arraignment you should be prepared with
the following information to provide your prospective lawyer.
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What county were you arrested in?
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When were you arrested?
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What is your docket number? The docket number of
your case should begin with 2002 (the year of your arrest), then be followed by the two letter
code for the county (For example, Queens is QN) followed by a series of
numbers.
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If you have already been arraigned, what is the name of
the lawyer who represented you at arraignment? What is the
lawyer's telephone number? This is important so that the complaint
can be located and the charges against you verified.
-
What is the most serious charge against you? This is
not a question designed to suggest that you actually committed any
crime, but simply a request for what it is that the police arrested you
for. You may not be exactly sure.
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How much, if any, bail did the judge set at arraignments?
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Do you have names (addresses and telephone numbers) of any
witnesses or people with relevant information about the situation?
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Have you ever been arrested before or convicted of any
crime before?
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Are you a United States Citizen? This is often
important because if you are not you need to be quite careful about you
proceed. Contact with the criminal justice system by a non-citizen
(even a legal resident) can be quite dangerous and may require input
from an immigration specialist in addition to a criminal defense lawyer.
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What is your next court date?
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What is the name of the courtroom you are required to go
to next?
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Did you make any statements to the police, even oral
statements, off the record statements, or any other type of statements?
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Did the police recover any property from you, your car, or
your residence that they seem to think is illegal or significant in some
way to your case?
