Many crimes exist within the law of the United States, various acts that are punishable once a person is convicted of committing them. Some of the more common crimes committed by everyday Americans include DUI (driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol) or possessing or using an illegal drug. When a person is facing a criminal investigation, they will probably want to get a legal defense before their court appearance so that they can have their own side of a case represented by an expert, and criminal charges might end up with less severe penalties if a criminal defense lawyer is hired (although nothing is guaranteed). When facing a criminal investigation, an offender may try to get a lighter sentence to replace jail or prison time or massive fines with alternative means of criminal justice, and consulting the attorneys at criminal defense law firms is a great way to start one’s criminal defense. Facing a criminal investigation may soon follow such events as drugs being found at one’s house or getting into a car crash after driving drunk, among other acts. What should be done next?
Common Crimes
A person may be facing a criminal investigation after they have been accused of driving a motor vehicle while impaired, whether or not an actual collision with another car, property, or a pedestrian took place. At any given moment in the United States, about 300,000 people are driving drunk, but statistics show that only about 4,000 of them will be arrested for this behavior. A person is, as the law sees it, driving drunk once their BAC (blood alcohol content) is 0.08% or higher, and some states may have their own BAC thresholds for driving drunk. Often, police and state troopers can identify a drunk driver based on the vehicle’s behavior, and if a crash takes place, the driver can be tested for their BAC. Many people are injured or killed every year due to drunk driving; in fact, statistics suggest that someone in the United States is injured in a drunk driving crash every two minutes.
Many drugs are illegal, and the possession, use, purchase, or selling of these illegal substances will constitute a drug offense, and a person facing these charges will have to appear in drug court to answer for their actions. A person may face still penalties for possession or use of such materials, especially if they are a repeat offender or if they do not have legal representation. But hiring a lawyer can help.
Legal Aid
When facing a criminal investigation, an offender may want to look up and then visit local law firms and get consultations with the attorneys who work there (this may or may not incur a fee), and find a lawyer there whose skills, experience, success rate, and personality are all to the client’s liking, and once hired, this attorney can work with the client to build their case. Some criminal defense law firms specialize in certain criminal cases such as drunk driving or drug possession, so this may affect what sort of law firm they look for and the lawyers that they hire to help them.
While nothing is guaranteed about the outcome of a criminal court case, an offender who has a lawyer representing them may have better odds of getting a lighter and more preferable sentence than such punishments as jail or prison time, heavy fines, or driver’s license suspension. For drunk drivers, if the criminal defense lawyer argues the case well enough, the court might decide to replace a jail sentence with a rehab program for the offender as well as ordering the installation of hardware like an ignition lock and breathalyzer for the offender’s car. This way, the offender maintains his or her freedom of movement but is far less likely to repeat the crime for which they are convicted. The offender will not have their driver’s license suspended, either. Similarly, those facing a drug offense charge may hire legal representatives who will argue replacing a major penalty like prison time with a rehab program that the court mandates, and the offender, if they complete the program properly and on time, will have done their part to bring the case to an end.
