You Need Someone Who Can Be There And Advocate On Your Behalf And Can Fight For You In Court
Video Transcribed: What can an attorney do for you in a misdemeanor case? My name is Ryan Cannonie, I am the Tahlequah criminal defense attorney for Wirth Law Office in Cherokee County.And this week, I’ve had a lot of people talk to me about misdemeanors.
I had a family member ended up with a traffic ticket that called me and had some questions about it. And so why should you get an attorney on a misdemeanor?
Well, first off, anyone who goes into court without an attorney is severely hampering their ability to defend themselves.
The prosecutor is not on your side. The judge is not on either side. You want someone that can be there and advocate on your behalf and can fight for you in court.
So that’s what an attorney can do. For instance, my family member had the speeding, or wasn’t a speeding, it was a defective equipment ticket.
Didn’t realize that actually in the statute, it says if within 48 hours, you can show that that equipment was repaired, then you can get the ticket declined. There’s no court costs. It’s dismissed. You don’t even have to pay the $200, $300 on fees if they even tackle it on the end.
But that’s something an attorney would know that most other people don’t. Things an attorney might also know is if the stop, whenever they pulled you over, if that was valid and that may invalidate all the evidence they have against you to the point that your whole case gets dismissed. Right now, I did a video a little bit ago about COVID-19 and how that’s impacted courthouses.
One thing with misdemeanors is that your attorney can usually represent you on a misdemeanor without you being present. That means that they, a lot of times, can stand in… Most judges, because of the way the statute is, will allow them to do everything up until about a point you plea, if there is a plea, but they can stand in for you.
So you’re not having to take off work to come up to the courthouse, which a lot judges are like that right now. Like I said, my COVID video, because it limits the amount of people in the courthouse. These are all things that an attorney can do for you on a misdemeanor case.
The looking over the evidence, and not just looking at the evidence, but those attorneys that can go and talk to the prosecutors and say, “Hey, here’s where I’m coming from and I see your point, but can you give me this? We’ll acknowledge A if you can give me B,” and really negotiate your case for you on a more equal ground than if you just show up, not knowing the law and try to do it yourself. These are things that can really help you in a case.
And I’ve done other videos about how attorneys can help with plea offers. I mean, most of your waiver of attorney forms that you signed in court or even say, like spelled out, that an attorney may have been able to get you a better deal than you’re agreeing to without an attorney. So these are some reasons why you should hire an attorney on a misdemeanor. Yeah.
A Tahlequah misdemeanor is usually not treated as severely as felonies. Most of the time, not always, but most of the time, you’re not looking at prison time or anything like that, or jail time in the case of a misdemeanor.
You’re probably going to end up with some type of probation or fine in cost punishment if you take a plea deal, but an attorney may be able to get your case completely dismissed. They may be able to get you a better plea deal.
They may be able to keep you from taking off work, to show up for something taking all morning or day, just waiting for your name to be called in a big group of other people.
So when you’re looking at a case, if you’re thinking you might want to talk about maybe getting an attorney for your misdemeanor, then give us a call to speak with a Tahlequah attorney.
