Felony Representation

For a misdemeanor or a felony charge, there are exceptions to the rule after an arrest. If you are arrested for a misdemeanor charge, you can be released at a police station on your own recognizance. Alternatively, you might have to pay a small amount to get out though. When you get out, the police officers, or the police department, will give you documents showing your charges. Usually, it looks just like a ticket. Additionally, they will give you the next court date, and what courthouse to appear at. However, if you are picked up for a felony charge in Illinois, and you are arrested for that felony charge, you must appear in front of a bond judge. If you are arrested late at night, you are held at the local jail, until a bond judge is available, which is usually the next morning.

Once in front of the bond judge, the judge will determine whether to release you on your own recognizance bond, or make you post cash. This depends on various factors, such as the severity of the crime, and what is your prior criminal background, and whether you would pose a risk to the population. In addition, have you had any other court proceedings in the past where you failed to appear in court? The judge will take that into consideration when deciding what type of bond to levy against you. If you post a bond, you get out, but, if you do not post bond, you remain in custody until the next court proceeding.

What Rights Do I Have After I Have Been Arrested?

First, at no time are you ever obligated to talk to the police after you have been arrested. More often than not, an attorney will say do not consult or have any type of conversation with any police, because it usually hurts you more than it helps you. More often than not, you cannot explain your way out of a crime or a possibility of being charged with a crime if an officer believes one has been committed. From a defense point of view, it is best to remain silent. You have a constitutional right not to say anything to an officer, and that is the best advice we can give somebody in terms of an initial contact with law enforcement. That is number one.

Secondly, if you are in custody, the judge is going to make a decision whether to charge you with a misdemeanor, or a felony case, so you may not have access to an attorney. Most people are in a position to hire an attorney, or a private defense attorney to represent them in a court proceeding, however, if you do not have the financial wherewithal, and considered indigent, or below a certain economic level, then a public defender will be appointed for you.

At that point, depending on how the case proceeds, whether it is a misdemeanor, a felony, and whether you are in custody or not, what will happen is how quickly the court case can move if in fact all of the continuances are attributable within that state. This means that if in fact you and/or your defense attorney think it is in your interest to continue the case, or whatever reason there is, then those are continuances that are attributable to the defense. There is truly no timeframe in regards to how many times a defense attorney can continue a case. It all comes under the discretion of the defense or the presiding judge.

However, if the defendant and the defense attorney are trying to speed the case through the system as quickly as possible, there are strict time limits we must abide by. For example, with a felony charge, appearing in front of a grand jury or holding a preliminary hearing, there are strict time limits on how long you could remain in custody if you cannot post bond, and if all the continuances have been attributable to the state.

Can Someone Speak With an Attorney Before Consenting Or Refusing To A Chemical Test?

The answer is no, you will not be able to consult with an attorney prior to your arrest. A lot has to do with the discretion of the officer. I have seen officers who gave somebody the ability to make a phone call prior to him or her performing a field sobriety test, or blowing into the machine though. I have, and strictly speaking, they are under no obligation and the vast majority of times, the officer will not permit somebody to make that phone call. They are not required to do so. When law enforcement is in the middle of a DUI investigation, they will normally say, “Sir/Ma’am, we want you to perform the field sobriety tests, and we will take you down to the station now.

After we get you to the station, and process you, and before we ask you any questions after we place you under the arrest, then we will give you an opportunity to contact a defense attorney. We might give you the ability once the case is over, and you are released, to contact a lawyer, but it is highly unusual. It almost never happens during a DUI arrest, or a DUI investigation, that the officer will give that person the ability to reach out to a defense attorney so soon on a DUI case.

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Yes, you may ask to be represented by your attorney during an investigation. There is no strict time limit on exactly how quickly it may occur. As a matter of courtesy, they will. Equally, if not more important than that is once you say to the officer, “I no longer wish to talk to you”, “I wish to remain silent”, “I wish to talk to my lawyer”, any questioning that you are involved with, must stop. Not only under state law, but also under what they call a case law, where cases have been decided at both the state and federal level, that once you request a lawyer, no further questioning can take place.

What Paperwork Do I Have Once I Get Out Of Jail On Bail?

Let us talk as if you are referring about a felony case. You have a copy of the tickets when you leave, which would be the initial charging document given to you by the police. It shows why you were charged, and what you were charged with. You will also have a paper showing when your next court date is, including time, location, and what courtroom you need to go to. If you are placed on bond, those papers will show what the conditions of your bond are. Certain times, and conditions of bond can include no drugs, no alcohol, early curfew, and you might have to entail monitoring. In Lake County, Illinois, there is a department called pre-trial services that monitors all of your actions and you are to follow all of your conditions from that bond.

Those documents not only inform you of initially what is happening with your case, but also details the restrictions placed upon you. You need those same documents to show your attorney as well.

Will I Be Able To Drive After Getting Out Of Jail?

Before the officers release you from custody, they always take your physical license. In Lake County, they will confiscate your drivers’ license, they hold onto it for the purposes of bond. In lieu of that, if you post cash, but if you are getting a recognizance or a signature bond, then they are going to hold on to your license for that purpose. Usually, if there is a restriction they will not release you to drive; it is just as simple as that. If they will release you, then you can fend for yourself in terms of how you are going to get home, and under some situations, some police departments will drive that person home if the person lives in the same town in which they were arrested. They might give you the opportunity to contact a friend or a family member to pick you up.

They put a 24-hour hold on your vehicle. When you are arrested for a DUI, and driven to the police station, your car is going to be towed to a storage facility for a 24-hour timeframe, which again is based on the understanding that if you have not had a drink in 24 hours, you should be legally okay to drive. However, in terms of being released from a police station, you are not allowed to get in your car and drive after a DUI arrest.

What Are The Common Mistakes People Make Following An Arrest?

If we are talking about DUI mistakes, there are many time-sensitive items in association with a DUI arrest. In particular, when you are arrested for a DUI in the state of Illinois, whether you blow into the machine or not, your license will is suspended for 46 days after that arrest. If you refuse to blow, or refuse to take a chemical test, or you submit to a chemical test, and you test above the legal limit, by either alcohol or any amount of illegal drugs, your license will become suspended for those 46 days. If in fact they were to get into a DUI attorney’s office early on, he or she could file papers in court to challenge the validity of that suspension. I hope that suspension could be challenged prior to the 46 days and prior to the date or the effective date of the suspension.

Procrastinating certainly hurts you in any DUI case. In terms of any type of felony, or any type of non-DUI case, the sooner you retain a defense attorney, the sooner you will feel more comfortable knowing that you have somebody on your side to guide you through the criminal justice system. This can help you out enormously in terms of your arrest, and your ability to have a good night’s sleep. In addition to that, that person is highly experienced and those players; meaning the state’s attorneys can bring the case into court earlier, and modify some of the conditions of your bond to see whether the case can be resolved earlier rather than later. Although you want to take your time and make sure you pick the best attorney, the sooner you get things moving the better.

The cost is not going to be any different in terms of you retaining an attorney earlier on in your case. The earlier you get that attorney, the sooner you can expedite your case and receive a better resolution. Sometimes cases cannot be expedited and if that is the situation, so be it. Nevertheless, give your attorney as much time as possible.

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It is very hard to say how often you should meet with your attorney, every case, and every client is different. I tell people that I am willing to meet with you, and talk to you as much as necessary. Do not hesitate to give me a phone call if you have any questions, because the call itself will only be a couple of minutes more often than not. Most clients want to be reassured even if I am not telling them anything specifically that is beneficial to their case; most people want to know they can get a hold of their attorney at any time. Most attorneys are receptive, and he or she will return their clients phone calls within the day. In the first thirty days of a case, more often than not, your attorney is not going to have a lot of information for you. If it is a felony case, your attorney is not going to have a copy of the discovery or the police reports that quickly, it takes time for those reports to be ready.

This is the evidence the state plans to use against you in your upcoming hearing. It takes longer than 30 days, but I give my clients the ability to reach out to me at any time. If they want to come to my office, even if I have nothing to say to them per se, I always give them that choice so I can talk to them, especially if it makes them feel reassured. Once I receive copies of all the reports, and the discovery, which takes more than 30 days, we will meet to discuss their case, whether it is on a DVD for a DUI event, or it is an audiotape of an interview at the police station. We will go over the police report, and discuss in detail the witness statements, and what the police officer observed.

Will I Have A Pre-Trial Probation Officer Prior To Commencement Of The Trial?

Yes, you will have a pre-trial probation officer prior to your trial. Usually, we are dealing with felony cases where the bond judges make that determination. Once again, based on your criminal history, and whether you failed to appear in court in the past, or a threat to society, or the severity of this charge, the judge has the ability to not only say, “You are going to pay X number of dollars to get out”, but in addition to that, if you do post money, you are going to be supervised by a pre-trial officer. That officer will make sure you do not test positive for drugs or alcohol, and that you do follow a curfew from 6 AM to 6 PM. That officer will also make sure you do not have contact with other individuals that you are not allowed to have a contact with.

The pre-trial officer has the ability to come to your house to ask you to submit to a urine sample, and make sure there are no drugs or alcohol in your system. They can come at any time with no announcement needed. If you are in violation of any of those violations, and the judge hears that, they have the ability to revoke your bond, or take away your bond and throw you back into custody if they feel you have not complied with all the requirements in your pre-trial.

Is It Advisable To Go For Voluntary Counseling Or Treatment Prior To Trial?

It will not hurt your case to go to voluntary counseling. I guess possibly it could, but again, generally speaking, it can only help your case. This is the advice I say to my clients. Depending on the type of case it is, especially if its drugs or alcohol related, the first thing is, “Forget about this particular charge on your record, and this court proceeding. Do you feel that you have a problem? Have your friends and family been complaining to you about your alcohol use? Have you had blackouts on routine occasions? Have you lost jobs or relationships because of your drinking? Have you been in a situation where you showed up to work drunk, have you had situations where have had the shakes, cold sweats in the morning?”

That has nothing to do with the criminal charge. However, if you are telling me the answer is yes, putting aside criminal charges, you need to get help for your addictions, so you can move on in life. In addition to that, depending on the charge, it can help us when I am trying to work out this case with the state’s attorney to let them know you voluntarily went in for counseling, and treatment. It is what they call mitigating information, mitigating evidence, which is evidence that tends to help us when the judge and/or the state’s attorney is trying to figure out what their offer might be if it gets to that level. If a person has multiple DUIs, and after the most recent DUI arrest, they went to an inpatient facility, and successfully completed that program, and still attending a support program we can get proper documentation showing that you attending counseling, the could help your case.

This certainly would help us on the defense side. We are to try to work the case for a better outcome, because factually, we do not have a good case based on my client’s background, and we cannot prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of that charge. One of the things that helps us in our cases mitigates our position in terms of a lesser criminal liability would be our client attending counseling, but ultimately you should be going into counseling regardless of the charge.

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I would say that you could beat yourself up as much as you want after an arrest, but you cannot go back in time. You have to figure out what were the reasons that put you in this position. Is it blood or alcohol abuse? Was it because you have an anger control issues, a bad relationship, that put you in this situation, or was it your inability to deal with stress? What you need to do is address those issues immediately. You cannot change the fact that you were charged with this crime, you are already in this system, it is easier to face the facts and retain an experienced attorney who can help you make the process go as smoothly as possible.

Even if you go to jail or go to prison, you eventually will be released, You want to make sure when the case is over you have served your sentence whether it be probation, or jail time, and you do not put yourself in this position ever again. You are going to have a life, and you do not want to make the same mistake again. Be proactive, and address those issues. I would say figure out why you are there and address that even before anybody tells you that you have to.

Can I Hire An Attorney On Behalf Of My Friends Or Family Members?

The answer is yes, you can retain an attorney for family or a friend. Friends or families, in particular family members, routinely hire me. They hire me because their son or their brother is in custody now. When you are in jail, it is tough for you to reach out to an attorneys, it is tough for you to come up with money to retain an attorney as well. In terms of how you hire an attorney, whom do you call; I always take the position that a good attorney is no different from a good restaurant. You talk to friends and family and you reach out to people to see if they know of an experienced defense attorney who has experience in criminal cases. Anybody can put a nice ad in the yellow pages it does costs money. Anybody can have the nicest website that just costs money too.

In terms of whether a person has a good reputation, good standing in the legal community, and a topnotch ability to get things resolved that comes from experience, and exposure. If you can get a family member or a friend to say, “Listen, this guy Will Margolin, I have worked with him before, I have a good friend who worked with him and he returns phone calls, he shows up to court, he is highly disciplined in what he does and effective. A good referral is the best kind of advertisement in my book. The last thing I would do is look on the internet, because once again, let us say you have a nice website that just comes down to a matter of money, that has nothing to do with your level of expertise or standing in the legal community.

Can An Attorney Help Me Get My Friend Or Family Member Released Immediately?

Yes, an attorney can help family and friends get released quickly. Let us assume your court date is three weeks from now, that attorney can reach out to the state’s attorney to see whether the state’s attorney would agree to a lower bond. An effective attorney knows how to bring cases to court early, especially if they are on speaking terms with the prosecution. So yes, you do not have to languish in jail waiting on your next court date. Your attorney does have the ability to motion up, and bring cases to court earlier they just need to know the laws. Make sure you hire an experienced defense attorney in regards to these specific charges.

Can I Hire Someone Else If The Friend Or Family Member Is Not Satisfied With The Attorney?

Yes, of course you can hire another attorney at any time. You can hire as many attorneys as the court will let you hire. Eventually, the court will say enough already, but you do have a right to be represented by somebody that you feel most comfortable with. Just because you hire a lawyer on day one of the bond hearing, does not mean you are obligated to keep on paying that attorney. I have had other attorneys represent clients, but the next day, for whatever reason, they do not get along, so the client fires them and hires my firm, it happens often enough. It is quite common to change attorneys during the entire process.

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