I was speaking to a prosecutor the other day who has been filing cases in the San Fernando courthouse for the last three years.  He finally got a new assignment.  He's sitting in the early disposition court there.  We were talking about pre-filing intervention and what he thought about criminal defense attorneys trying to reach out to him and his fellow filers about their clients trying to avoid a filing.

He said they frown upon that a lot of times. They obviously don't have the time or inclination to mess around with pre-filing letters.

However, after I prodded him a little bit, he did indicate that there are certain cases where there's a close call, and if the attorney can get to them either by way of a phone call or a letter and bring up some good mitigating circumstances about their client—or point out a defense that the police may not have followed up on—then they will certainly take a look at that.

He gave me an idea of some of the things that I knew that they do, which is they pretty much will grill the police over and they're going to ask who is this guy?  Why did he do this?  What's going on here?

If there are holes and issues in the case, they will challenge the police officers who come in and try to file cases.  I've known this for a long time.  I've been doing this for twenty-five years — that the prosecutors who are out there dealing with cases — know what it's going to take to win a case and when they're not going to be successful in a case.

So, they will ask questions of the police and if the police don't have the answers and there's holes and issues with the case, then they're going to make the police go back out and continue their investigation.  They will not file a case under these circumstances.

So, they pretty much train police officers to make sure that when they come in, and they're holding a case in their hand, they better have sealed up all of the holes and done their investigation.  Otherwise, the prosecutors are not going to file the case.

Avoid the Filing of Formal Charges

So, I am a firm believer in pre-filing intervention in the right case. There are some cases where you can successfully avoid a filing altogether by presenting strong mitigating facts to the prosecutors. In other cases, you can significantly influence the charges that are filed by ensuring the prosecutors see the full picture.

You know a case is probably going to be filed, but maybe you don't want certain charges filed against your client and want to make sure the prosecutors see the other side of the coin.

We do it all the time if it's the right case.  If it's not the right case and we already know they've got the evidence and it's going to be filed, it's just going to make us look stupid, so obviously, we're not going to send a pre-filing letter or calling any prosecutors.

But I have had some recent success, sending letters, following up with calls, and getting cases not filed.

Does Pre-Filing Make Sense in Your Criminal Case?

What's crucial is to have an open and honest conversation with your attorney. When you come in, we'll discuss whether pre-filing makes sense for your case. If it does, we'll work together to gather character letters and other documents that will support your case when the prosecutors make their filing decision.

So, if you've got a situation that you think pre-filing intervention makes sense, come and sit down with me.  We'll talk about it, and I'll give you an honest answer.  I'll give you an honest assessment of whether you're just wasting your time or whether it's something that I would do in an effort to avoid filing either or more serious charges being filed against you.

Suppose you're wondering what pre-filing intervention is. In that case, you should realize by this post that it's a defense attorney contacting the filing deputies in the particular courthouse where your case is pending, trying to either convince him not to file the case or trying to convince him to file some other charges different than what the police arrested you for.

Just because the police arrest somebody for a crime doesn't necessarily mean that's what the prosecutors are going to file.  The police are not lawyers.

Remember, just because the police arrest someone for a crime, it doesn't mean that's what the prosecutors will file.  The prosecutors make the final decision, and it's my job as your defense attorney to ensure they see the full picture and make the best decision for your case. If you're facing a potential filing in a Los Angeles criminal case, don't hesitate to call the Hedding Law Firm for a review of your case.