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Getting charged with a crime is an intense situation that might cause a person to make mistakes that could come back to haunt them. Sometimes, the police do not have enough evidence to make a case against you, but they bluff, hoping that they can trip you up and give them something they can use against you.

Your first call after getting arrested or charged with a criminal offense should be to a Washington criminal defense attorney. This blog will cover some of the common mistakes to avoid when facing criminal charges in Washington State. 

First, Do Not Escalate the Situation

There are tragic stories on the news on a regular basis about what can happen when an interaction with the police turns violent. You can only lose in these situations, so you do not want to provoke the officer. Stay calm and polite. Do not resist arrest. Do not be rude or disrespectful. Your words and conduct can get used against you.

Exercise Your Right to Remain Silent

Continuing with the theme of your words getting used against you, the U.S. Constitution grants you the right to remain silent. Simply tell the police that you want to talk to an attorney, and then keep quiet. Anything you say can get used to justify a search warrant or get told to the jury in court.

Wait until you talk to a lawyer about your case before answering questions from the police. Your attorney can advise you on how to respond to the questions. Also, be sure to have a lawyer present during questioning.

Warrantless Searches

Usually, the police must first obtain a search warrant before coming into your residence or searching your vehicle. There are some exceptions, but most of the time, they need a warrant. The police might pressure you to consent to a search when they do not have a warrant by telling you that you have nothing to worry about if you have nothing to hide. Resist the temptation to give in. Politely refuse the search and call a lawyer.

Tell Your Lawyer All the Facts

Some people try to outsmart the system, even their own attorney. They withhold crucial information from their lawyer. When a criminal defendant does this, they prevent their attorney from being able to prepare a defense on that issue. Your lawyer will not appreciate getting blindsided at trial with no opportunity to get evidence to counter the hidden facts.

Do Not Agree to Certain Types of Samples

You should not voluntarily provide evidence without a court order or the advice of your attorney. This includes clothing, handwriting, fingerprints, a blood sample, or any other bodily fluid. The prosecution will use these items against you. They might not have been able to get a court order based on their existing information, so they would not have been able to obtain the sample without your help.

Hoping the Charges Will Disappear

A common mistake is to desperately hope the criminal charges will somehow go away on their own or if you tell your side of the story to the police or prosecutor. Valuable time slips away when people delay talking to a lawyer. A Washington criminal defense attorney can start protecting your legal rights as soon as they start working on your case. Contact our office today for help with your case.

DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to share my perspective, insights, and some general information on various aspects of criminal cases. It is not legal advice and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. You should consult an attorney to obtain legal advice for your individual situation and case.

Usually, the first significant court appearance in a criminal case is the arraignment hearing. The arraignment hearing can have an impact on the rest of your criminal case. With so much at stake, you will want to have a Seattle criminal defense attorney at your side handling your arraignment.

If you have never attended an arraignment before, you might have anxiety or worry about what will happen at the event. It could relieve your stress if you knew what to expect. This blog will provide some answers about what happens at an arraignment.

What to Expect at an Arraignment in Washington State

An arraignment is usually the first time a defendant appears in court after getting arrested and charged with a criminal offense. Although the arrangement does not tend to take a long time, these are the typical things that happen at the hearing:

• The judge reads a prepared statement advising the defendant of their rights under the constitution.
• The judge then reads the criminal charges that the state has filed against the defendant.
• The person accused of the criminal offense enters a plea
• The judge will deal with bail for the accused, either setting, adjusting, reinstating, or exonerating the bail of the defendant. 

If you plead guilty as charged, you will skip trial and proceed to sentencing. If you want to have a trial, you will need to enter a plea of not guilty. You will want to have the advice of a criminal defense attorney before this hearing and get represented by a lawyer at the hearing.

What Can Happen if a Defendant Does Not Attend Their Arrangement

Law enforcement will bring the defendant to the arraignment if the person is in jail at the time scheduled for the hearing. Many people get released after their arrest and told when to appear for their arraignment. There are severe consequences if a defendant fails to appear for an arraignment.

Usually, the judge will issue a bench warrant and send an officer out to arrest the defendant and bring them to the courtroom. When this happens, the defendant faces a new charge of failure to appear, in addition to the existing criminal charge for which they got arrested. Going forward, the defendant could now get sentenced for both offenses.  

Your Rights at an Arraignment

A criminal defendant has rights under the United States Constitution and the Washington state constitution. These rights include:

• The right to remain silent, also called the right against self-incrimination. 
• The right to a trial by jury.
• The right to have a lawyer represent them. A court-appointed public defender could represent the defendant if they cannot afford to hire their own criminal defense attorney.
• The right to confront the prosecutor’s witnesses and produce their own witnesses for their defense.
• The right to a speedy trial.

Many people accused of a crime give up some of their constitutional rights without realizing that they did so. A criminal defense attorney can explain these rights to you and discuss how they apply to your situation. 

A Washington criminal offense attorney could aggressively protect your constitutional rights and help you go after the best outcome possible in your circumstances. For help with your case reach out to our office today.

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DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to share my perspective, insights, and some general information on various aspects of criminal cases. It is not legal advice and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. You should consult an attorney to obtain legal advice for your individual situation and case.

The legal process of a criminal case in Washington state is complicated, but a Washington criminal defense attorney can help you navigate the various steps and fight aggressively for the best possible outcome in your situation. Every case is different, but considering the multiple negative consequences a criminal conviction can have on your life, hiring a lawyer from the very beginning could be a smart decision.

Initial Stages of a Criminal Case in Washington State

After the police investigate and identify a suspect, law enforcement might file a case in court if they have not yet arrested the suspect. If a suspect gets arrested, law enforcement has 48 hours to find probable cause. If they cannot find probable cause within 48 hours, they must release the suspect. 

If they do find probable cause, the prosecutor will review the case. At this point, the prosecutor has three options: 

1. Send the case back to law enforcement for additional investigation.
2. Decline the case based on insufficient evidence.
3. File the case in court.

The type of charge will determine where the case gets filed.

Case Filed in Washington State Court

Misdemeanors get filed in Washington State District Court or a city’s Municipal Court while felonies get filed in  Washington State Superior Court for the county where the crime allegedly occurred. For both misdemeanors and felonies, there will be an arraignment at which the defendant pleads not guilty, and the court will address the conditions of release and set a bail amount for the defendant to post in order to be released.  Your attorney cannot bring a motion to reduce bail or change other conditions of release unless they can show a “change in circumstances” from when the initial bail determination was made.  

Process for a Misdemeanor in Washington State

Once the arraignment has been completed, a future court date will be set for a pretrial hearing (also called a case-setting hearing in some courts).  At the Pre-Trial Hearing, the case could get set for a plea, for motions, for trial, or simply continued to another Pre-Trial date because one or both sides need more time to engage in plea negotiation or to investigate the case. The prosecutor and defense attorney will each engage in their own investigations and negotiate with each other.

If a defendant enters a guilty plea, after which there will be a formal plea hearing and sentencing. Sentencing hearings are almost always set after the plea hearing for felony cases.  For misdemeanors, the plea and sentencing often occur in the same hearing.  If the plea remains Not Guilty after further investigations and negotiations, the case may be set for a Motions Hearing, if there is an issue to be litigated before the trial starts.   Defense counsel might argue to suppress some of the evidence if it was obtained in violation of the defendant’s rights. The prosecutor might seek to add charges to the case if the investigation revealed additional suspected crimes.

Eventually, if there is not a guilty plea, the criminal case will go forward to a jury trial. There are three possible outcomes from a jury trial in Washington State:

1. The jury finds the defendant not guilty of the charges.
2. There is a mistrial or hung jury, which often results in further plea negotiations or a subsequent trial.
3. The jury finds the defendant guilty of one or more of the charges, after which there will be a sentencing.

These steps are the usual process in most criminal misdemeanor cases in Washington State. There can be some variations from one case to another.

Procedures for a Washington State Felony

After the Arraignment in the Washington State Superior Court, there will be an Omnibus Hearing. The Omnibus Hearing is similar to the Pre-Trial Hearing for misdemeanor cases. At the Omnibus Hearing, the case could get continued, set for a plea, set for motions, or set for trial. 

When a defendant enters a guilty plea, they will have a Guilty Hearing, followed by a Sentencing Hearing. If the defendant continues to plead Not Guilty, there will be one or more motion hearings, then a jury trial. The jury in a felony case in Washington State can reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty, or there could be a mistrial or a hung jury.

You can talk to a Washington State criminal defense attorney about your legal options if you get charged with a felony or misdemeanor in Washington State. Get in touch with Jennifer today for help with your case.

DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to share my perspective, insights, and some general information on various aspects of criminal cases. It is not legal advice and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. You should consult an attorney to obtain legal advice for your individual situation and case.

Embezzlement is a type of theft in Washington, and it carries the same possible punishments as theft. The offense can get charged as a felony or a misdemeanor, with varying degrees. Each charge has different possible penalties.

If you got accused of embezzlement or charged with theft, a Washington white-collar crimes attorney could protect your legal rights and help defend you from the charges. Let’s address the question, what is the punishment for embezzlement in Washington? 

Gross Misdemeanor – Third-Degree Theft

If the items or assets a person embezzles have a value of less than $750, they can get charged with theft in the third degree, which is a gross misdemeanor. The sentence could be a fine of up to $5,000. Also, the judge could sentence the offender to as much as a year in the county jail. It is possible for a sentence to include a fine and jail time.

For example, a person convicted of embezzling $500 of electronic equipment they were supposed to repair and return to the owner could have to pay a fine of as much as 10 times the value of what they took.

Class C Felony – Second-Degree Theft

If the value of what got embezzled was more than $750 but less than $5,000, the charge could be theft in the second degree, which is a class C felony. Getting convicted of a felony carries its own set of negative consequences, in addition to the possibility of going to state prison for as long as five years. The potential fine for the charge of second-degree theft can go up to a maximum of $10,000. As with other theft convictions, the offender could get sentenced to incarceration or a fine, or both.

Let’s say that a person had a financial emergency and wrote a check for $1,000 from the company’s checking account. That one check could cause them to lose five years of freedom and owe $10,000 in fines.

Class B Felony – First-Degree Theft

This Class B felony charge involves the theft of more than $5,000 worth of assets or property. In addition to the standard impacts of a felony conviction, the offender could get sentenced to up to 10 years in state prison, a fine of up to $20,000, or both. 

A large corporation required an employee to do a great deal of travel on company business. One day, the worker submitted fraudulent travel expense forms in the amount of $7,000. The employee said they attended a business conference, but they actually took their family on vacation. The business conference was fictitious. The $7,000 family trip could send the worker away to prison for a decade with a fine of up to $20,000.

Factors Used in Sentencing

Theft convictions come with a range of possible sentencing, so how does the judge decide to let one person have the low end of potential penalties but throw the book at someone else? One of the tools judges use is the defendant’s offender score, which can include the individual’s criminal history, other current offenses, and other factors. 

A Washington criminal defense attorney can work tirelessly to get you the best possible outcome in your situation. Get in touch with our office today for a free consultation.

DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to share my perspective, insights, and some general information on various aspects of criminal cases. It is not legal advice and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. You should consult an attorney to obtain legal advice for your individual situation and case.

You might think that you are not at high risk of getting charged with embezzlement if you do not work at a bank or an investment company, but it is surprisingly easy to find yourself facing criminal charges of embezzlement. If that happens, you need to know what defenses you could raise to try to avoid a conviction. 

Your first call should be to a Washington white-collar crimes attorney who can build a strong case for you based on your facts. Your lawyer will talk to you about the possible defenses for embezzlement charges that might be applicable in your situation.

An Overview of Embezzlement 

At its core, embezzlement is just a type of theft. Borrowing from the petty cash box because you forgot your wallet and needed to pay for lunch could get charged as embezzlement. Helping yourself to copy paper, pens, and other office supplies could be embezzlement. 

You do not have to take items from your employer to get charged with theft. A person who works in home health care might take an item from a client’s home. Someone running a crowd-funding campaign to help pay for someone else’s medical bills might use some of the funds to pay their own personal expenses.

If you have lawful access to someone else’s assets or money, taking or using that asset fraudulently for your own purposes without permission is embezzlement that could get charged as theft. Embezzlement falls under the theft laws in Washington. Embezzlement does not have its own separate laws. Theft can be a misdemeanor or a felony in our state. 

Defenses to the Theft Charges

Defenses to embezzlement generally focus on intent, deception, and lack of authorization. Theft is a crime of intent. In other words, you must have intended to take something that you knew was not yours. 

Let’s say that you were waiting at a bus stop. When the bus arrived, you picked up a backpack that you thought was yours, and boarded the bus. The real owner of the backpack called the police, who arrested you for theft. The two backpacks looked surprisingly similar. You could defend against the charges by saying that you picked up the wrong backpack by accident. You did not intend to steal the other person’s backpack.

Also, you did not use deception to gain possession of the other person’s backpack. For example, you did not intentionally switch the locations of the backpacks to try to deceive the other person. 

Authorization is another common defense to embezzlement charges. One person at a company might make improper claims of theft because they do not know all the facts. Someone in middle management might observe you walk out of the office carrying one of the office laptops and accuse you of embezzling company property. They did not know that your direct supervisor authorized you to take the laptop home for the weekend to finish a report. 

The middle manager might say that you wrongfully took company property or had unauthorized control or possession of the laptop. In a situation like this, the truth is your best defense against embezzlement charges because your actions did not constitute embezzlement or theft. 

Criminal charges of any kind of theft could blemish your good name and reputation. With so much at stake, you will want to talk to a Washington criminal defense attorney at once. Contact our office today for help with your case.

DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to share my perspective, insights, and some general information on various aspects of criminal cases. It is not legal advice and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. You should consult an attorney to obtain legal advice for your individual situation and case.

In Washington, the police are supposed to follow the law, just like everyone else. One of the crucial obligations of law enforcement is not to violate anyone’s legal rights. Unfortunately, the rights guaranteed by the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the constitution of the state of Washington are not always honored when a person gets accused of a crime.

A Washington criminal defense attorney will fight relentlessly to protect your legal rights and hold law enforcement and the criminal justice system accountable when they trample on your constitutional protections. Here are 3 of the most frequently violated rights of the accused: 

Miranda Violations

When you are in police custody and the police ask you questions beyond merely your name and a few other non-incriminating details, they are engaging in “custodial interrogation.” Before starting a custodial interrogation, the officer is supposed to read you your Miranda rights. In reality, they do not actually read you your rights, because they have the script memorized from repeating it so many times on the job.

The police are supposed to inform you that you have the right to remain silent, that anything you say can and will be used against you in court, and that you have a right to have an attorney present. Informing you of your Miranda rights should happen before they ask you any substantive questions. It is pointless for them to tell you, after you have answered all of their questions, that you didn’t have to answer any of them because of the right to remain silent.

What we can do if this right got violated:

If the police engaged in unlawful custodial interrogation, we can ask the judge to throw out anything that you said after getting arrested. In other words, we will ask the judge to rule that the prosecutor cannot use any of the illegally obtained statements against you.

Illegal Search and Seizure

In many cases, the police are supposed to have a valid search warrant supported by probable cause before they are allowed to search your home or property. There are exceptions to this rule, which is why you want to work with a lawyer if you plan to raise the fourth amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures as a defense in your case.

What we can do if this right got violated:

If the police performed an unlawful search and seizure of evidence, we can file a motion with the judge asking the judge to exclude all items the police obtained improperly. This would mean that the prosecutor would not get to use those pieces of evidence against you in court.

Violations of Due Process

Due process violations can take many forms, including the accused having the right to confront witnesses and getting adequate time to work with their lawyer. Many cases involve violations of due process.

What we can do if this right got violated:

The appropriate remedy depends upon the type of due process violation. We can address these issues directly with the judge. 

A Washington criminal defense attorney can help protect you from violations of your rights and seek appropriate remedies if the police or prosecutor violated your rights. Contact our office today for help with your case.

DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to share my perspective, insights, and some general information on various aspects of criminal cases. It is not legal advice and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. You should consult an attorney to obtain legal advice for your individual situation and case.

If you get stopped by the police, you might find yourself feeling and acting nervous. When you realize that your nervousness could make the police suspect that you are guilty of something, that realization can make you more nervous, if not downright panicked. You do not want to get accused of refusing to cooperate with the police and end up as a news headline.

On the other hand, you do not want to say something that might incriminate you. A Washington criminal defense attorney can help you protect your legal rights and answer questions like, am I being detained? Here are six questions you should ask during interactions with the police. 

1. Am I Being Arrested?

If the police say that, yes, they are arresting you, you will want to exercise your right to remain silent. Call a criminal defense lawyer immediately and remain silent until you have a lawyer present. 

The police are not supposed to arrest anyone without having probable cause. If they only suspect that you might have committed a crime but they do not have probable cause that would justify making an arrest, you might inadvertently say something that they could interpret as grounds for probable cause. Let your lawyer do the talking for you. 

2. Am I Being Detained?

The police are allowed to detain a person briefly if they have a reasonable suspicion. Of course, the issue is often, how long is briefly? When they finish asking their questions, you should be free to go, unless they decide to arrest you. You should confirm whether you are free to go before you attempt to do so.

3. How Long Will I Be Detained?

Remember, the period of being detained must be brief. The police might make you stay in a secured area while they perform an investigation. You will want to call your lawyer before answering questions while being detained.

4. Why Am I Being Detained or Arrested?

The police must have a reason to arrest or detain someone. Pulling someone off of the streets and not letting them go about their business without have a good reason to do so can be harassment.

5. Do You Have a Warrant?

Although the police do not always need to have a warrant to perform a search or arrest someone, you should always ask, rather than simply opening the door and letting them enter. If you voluntarily let them in, you have consented to a search. Instead, you will want to ask them politely if they have a warrant. If they do not have a warrant, you can refuse to let them search. Because there are exceptions to the requirement of a warrant, you should call your lawyer to step in at this point.

6. Am I Free to Leave?

If the police tell you that you are free to go, by all means, go somewhere else right away. Hanging around only gives them time to think of a reason to detain or arrest you. When you have been stopped by the police, never try to leave before they tell you that you are free to go, or you might get treated as fleeing the scene.

A Washington criminal defense attorney will fight tirelessly to protect your legal rights. For help with your case get in touch with our office today, we are here to help you.

DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to share my perspective, insights, and some general information on various aspects of criminal cases. It is not legal advice and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. You should consult an attorney to obtain legal advice for your individual situation and case.