I've been practicing now for 26 years in Los Angeles County.  I've had a lot of out of state individuals contact me and hire me.  Sometimes it's another lawyer who is practicing in a different state and who has connections and a client in Los Angeles and they need help.

Other times it's a family member of somebody who's been arrested in Los Angeles — a mother, father sister or brother — some other family member and they're calling on behalf of their family member who has been arrested and who needs help in Los Angeles.

Other times it's people who live in a different state, come to California, get arrested or prosecuted in Los Angeles and now they have to go back to their home state but they need an attorney here in Los Angeles.  What they end up having to do is hiring me and I end up guiding them through the process.

Multiple Court Appearances

So, you can definitely hire a California criminal defense lawyer even though you might be out of state.  You obviously just have to make sure that you get the right lawyer — somebody who is going to be able to take care of your case.

I've done a lot of these cases and there's a lot that goes into it because a lot of times, even if the case is easy and it can easily be resolved, it's typically not going to be resolved in one court appearance.  There's usually going to be multiple court appearances.

You or your loved one might be ordered to do certain things and that loved on is not going to be able to make those appearances if they live out of state.  What ends up happening is, me as the attorney, take care of it for them.

For example, if they have to turn in community service, or do a domestic violence program even out of state, they can send me the proof that they're doing what they're supposed to and then obviously, I make the court appearance and let the judge know what's going on until probation is over.

Then they can move on with their life.  A lot of times we'll get cases expunged or dismissed for the client, reduced down to misdemeanors.  There's all sorts of different vehicles that we can use in Los Angeles, California to try to help somebody who is out of state.

Arrest Warrants

Sometimes people are out of state and they have a warrant out for their arrest and they need my help.  A lot of times they'll retain me.  I'll do the initial legwork of figuring out what the warrant is all about, who the prosecutor is, who the judge is and get a game plan together of exactly how we're going to handle the warrant and then I will have the person come in from out of state.

We'll appear in court.  We'll have the case send into the courtroom.  We'll have any warrant quashed and then we'll take care of the case.

Other times, people are out of state and are unable to get back into Los Angeles because of the warrant because they need to fly.  I have been successful in getting warrants taken out of the system for a period of time — maybe two to three weeks — to allow the person to travel back into Los Angeles.

Then we deal with the case and we're done.  As long as the judge sees that you've hired an attorney and the attorney is trying to figure out how to resole the matter. A lot of times they will be reasonable in reference to taking the warrant out for a certain period of time because the realize if you don't show up in that two week period they'll just put the warrant back into the system.

So, as long as it sounds legitimate to them and it makes sense to them, a lot of times we can get the warrant taken out of the system and we can deal with it.

Call our Law Firm to Review Your Case

So, if you've got an out of state situation where you're out of state and you've got a criminal case in Los Angeles — whether you're an attorney, a family member or the actual defendant, pick up the phone.  Make the call.  A lot of times I can get on the phone with you and my office manager.

We can pull your case, figure everything out and decide exactly what we're going to do related to your criminal matter and really put the case together before you even get into town so things run very smoothly, easily, effectively and you don't have to worry about being taken into custody in your criminal matter.

A lot of times we can avoid that as well.  It's just a matter of handling things the right way and knowing how the Los Angeles criminal system works and then doing everything necessary to get you out of that system to allow you to go back to your home state so that you can effectively deal with your criminal case and we're certainly here to help you do that.

Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense law firm located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. We are also located at 633 West Fifth Street Los Angeles, CA 90071. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.