Your Legal Rights In A Los Angeles Criminal Case
Unfortunately, what happens a lot of times is the police approach people and they are obviously in uniform. They have a car. A lot of times before they approach you they put the lights on you and it's just a shock to people's system that they're in contact with the police – that they could potentially be in some sort of trouble.
This causes them to do and say things they normally might not say if they quarterbacked it and thought about it; they might say no, I'm not going to answer those questions. I'm not going to do that. So, this section is about giving you an idea of your rights before you come in contact with the police and then obviously after you come in contact with the police.
Before you come into contact with the police, you need to know that, as Miranda says – which is the case that gave you some rights not to speak to the police – you don't have to talk to the police.
You Don't Have To Talk To Police
You don't have to give them any information; if you don't, there's little they can do about it. So, that's probably issue no.1 because the police will come aggressively at you in a criminal situation, and they're going to say, hey, we need you to tell us x, y, and z, and you're going to look at them, and you're going to be scared.
That's one reaction by people, and then you say a bunch of stuff, and later on, they try to use that against you. Or, you're not scared, but you think you can talk your way out of whatever issue you have related to the police, and so you start saying a bunch of stuff.
The problem with that is that a lot of times, the police mischaracterize you, and later on down the road, your criminal defense attorney is trying to deal with the case, and over and over again, your statement keeps popping up to ruin you.
So, the bottom line is that you don't have to say anything to the police. You can certainly be polite to them, but in your politeness, you can simply tell them, I'm not going to make any statements. I don't have to make any statements; my attorney would be present if I made a statement.
That's pretty much the end of it. They're not going to take a hot poker to your eye and threaten you, although I have heard of them threatening people they're going to take their children away or they're going to arrest their significant other.
They have all sorts of things they can do, but the bottom line is that nine times out of ten or better, speaking to the police is probably the number one issue that causes people problems. So, first and foremost, regarding legal rights, you don't have to speak to the police.
Police And Procedures – How Things Work
It's always best to let your attorney handle a situation. Still, if the police catch you by surprise and you have to make some quick decisions because they are pressing you about some issues, the very simple answer to them is that I'm not going to make any statements.
I have an attorney, and I will let my attorney deal with any issues I might have so you don't make any statements. If you have the benefit of knowing that you're under investigation by the police, you will want to get your attorney involved right from the beginning.
Let them make the decisions that could affect your future, record, and freedom. You don't have an obligation to help the police with their investigation, and another problem with thinking that somehow, you're going to say some things that are going to resolve and clear up everything – the police are in the competitive business of ferreting out crimes, so they're not there to help you.
They're not there to show you are innocent, even though they might claim that. So, a lot of times, what I see happen is people decide to talk to the police or cooperate with them in their investigation, and later on, all of a sudden, the police are attributing some statement that they made to them that the client is saying, no, I didn't say it like that.
That's not what I meant by that. They're taking things out of context and using it against you. When they're using your own words against you, that's the best evidence a prosecutor can have in a criminal case. So, you do not want to cooperate with the police and their investigation, and you let your attorney deal with it right from the beginning. If they catch you by surprise, you do not make any statements and let your attorney deal with them.
Criminal Process in Los Angeles
The criminal process involves a couple of ways that the police can deal with people in Los Angeles County.
Suppose they come upon a situation where they see a person committing a crime, or they have witnesses claiming that a person committed a crime. In that case, they can arrest that person, book them for a crime, and set bail on whatever the bail is.
They will submit the paperwork and let the prosecutors deal with the case. If you bail out, you'll usually get a court date about thirty days away, depending on how busy the jurisdiction or courthouse is in Los Angeles County. If you don't bail out, they must get you in there within about seventy-two hours.
The worst is when they catch you on a holiday, and they can get some extra days in custody if you don't bail out. The police can arrest people if they feel they have all they need to get a person for a crime.
The next question becomes, what happens if a crime is not committed in the police's presence and they're just getting hearsay information from other people about someone allegedly committing a crime?
In that case, they can do whatever investigation is necessary. They can try to talk to the person. If the person doesn't speak, they have a decision: Do they have enough evidence based on what people have said?
What they've been able to uncover to arrest that person, and they can find the person and arrest them, or a lot of times what the police are doing now in today's society is they're just collecting all the information and giving it to the prosecutors – who are the lawyers in LA county – like the District Attorney's Office or the City Attorney's Office in LA. They just let them decide on it. That way, the police would wash their hands off it.
They said listen, we gave them all the information. They're the lawyers. So, if you got arrested, we don't believe it's our fault. Please don't file a complaint against us. Please don't worry about it. It was the prosecutors or the lawyers that made the decision that you are to be charged with the case.
If the prosecutors decide to file a case against you, then the question is, how do they deal with that case? I've often seen them just put a bench warrant in the system, and that's it.
Then someone gets picked up, or they run themselves because they're trying to get a job. They see they have a warrant, and they hire a lawyer. They go in and deal with it, or they can actually go find the person and arrest them. Then the person has to post bail to get out and deal with the case.
Arranging Bail with Your Criminal Lawyer in Los Angeles
Another option is if the person has an attorney and knows who the attorney is; they know the attorney's name, number, etc. They call the attorney, and then the attorney can make arrangements for the person to either go to the police station and post bail or go to court.
They can have the case called; either have the judge set bail, have a bail bondsman ready, or the attorney can try to argue that the person gets released on their recognizance.
Once the prosecutors in LA County charge a case, the attorney gets all the paperwork—the police reports and whatever evidence the police have given the prosecutors.
This could be video tapes, audio tapes, photographs, or physical evidence. The attorney will just get a copy to the client, let the client review it, and then we sit down and talk about it, and we kind of get our strategy together as to what we're going to do moving forward.
Are we going to fight the case, or in which case do we take an offensive posture? We investigate the case and then attack the prosecutor's case at each prosecution stage. That can be done with motions or at the preliminary hearing; we can argue to the judge that the prosecutor hasn't proved their case to reasonable suspicion. Therefore, the case should be dismissed.
The other alternative is to try to work out some plea bargain with the prosecutors and negotiate with them—to get a mitigation package. All these things are things that you need to talk to your attorney about.
In the beginning, I have a long conversation with my client to decide what our approach is going to be. Once we get all the stuff, we start making some court appearances. We talk about it again to see if anything has changed, and we make the necessary adjustments and deal with the case.
Jury Trial in Los Angeles Courts
Ultimately, if you don't work out a deal with the prosecutors or if the case is not dismissed by way of some motion or the defense attorney convincing the prosecutors it's a bad case once your version of events is given to them, the last step is a trial.
That's where the rubber meets the road in a criminal case, and the prosecutors have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. You have the presumption of innocence, and if the prosecutors can't prove the case, then the case will either be dismissed by the judge or a jury will find you not guilty.
If the jury finds you not guilty, the case is over, and you can move on with your life. If you're found guilty, the case will now be passed to the judge to sentence you. Obviously, mitigation packages can be given to the judge at that time, and the judge will make the final decision on what your sentence should be based on the evidence that they heard at the trial.
They would consider any mitigating information the defense attorney can provide and any information the prosecutor provides. The probation report can also be obtained through the probation department.
They may make a recommendation, run your criminal record, and give the judge as much information as possible. The judge then takes all that information and makes a final decision. That's pretty much the criminal process.
Several different things can happen in these criminal cases. The best way to handle it is to sit down with your attorney because these cases can take all kinds of twists and turns, but your attorney will really get down to the nitty-gritty and give you an idea of what you're facing.