The Police are at my Door!
Defendant's Rights
At Motta & Motta, LLP we know how frightening involvement with police officers and the legal system can be. The stress and anxiety of an arrest may cause you, your family members or friends to overlook important factors, such as the right to remain silent and the right to consult with a lawyer.
We believe that intervention by a defense attorney early in a client's case is highly advantageous and beneficial. Early intervention can often lead to a client avoiding being arrested or expedite a resolution of all outstanding charges. At a minimum, early intervention allows our experienced attorneys to assist and guide clients through the judicial process from the very beginning of a client's case.
During and after arrest, please stay calm. Not everyone who is arrested is guilty of committing a criminal offense. An arrest is not a conviction. Always remember, you are innocent until proven guilty.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
What are My Rights if I've Been Accused of a Crime?
Those accused of crimes have a number of rights guaranteed by the US Constitution. These rights include: the right to remain silent in order to avoid self-incrimination, the right to competent legal representation, the right to reasonable bail, right to a fair and public trial, right to be informed of the charges against you, the right to be confronted with the witnesses against you and to gather witnesses of your own, and a number of other rights.
A criminal defendant is also presumed innocent until proven guilty. This means the prosecutor has the burden of proving (beyond a reasonable doubt) you committed the criminal act(s) in question. This also means a defendant does not have to do anything or say anything to prove s/he is innocent.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
Obtaining Legal Representation
You are entitled to telephone a lawyer, friend or family member to notify them of your arrest. You have the right to consult with a lawyer and have him or her present when the police question you. You should remain silent until your lawyer is present, since any statements you make can be used as evidence against you.
If you cannot afford to hire an attorney, you are entitled to a court-appointed attorney. The Court may appoint a private attorney, a lawyer from a legal aid society, or a public defender. The police are required to advise you of these rights before questioning you. Ordinarily, the arresting officer provides these warnings during the confusion of the arrest. These rights are critical to your defense later on.
Even if you refused a lawyer at the time of arrest, you retain the right to have a lawyer present at any time after your arrest.
If a family member or friend, who has been arrested, calls, remind him or her that they have a right to an attorney, and that they are not required to respond to police questioning until an attorney is present.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
Being Questioned by the Police
It is important to note the police can get around the right to be silent by telling a person he is not under arrest. If a person is not under arrest, the police are not required to read the Miranda rights. The police can simply ask a person for information. Without hearing those rights, someone might start answering the questions from the police and might even provide some self-incriminating evidence. Once the police have the information they need, THEN they may place the person under arrest. Every person has the right to be accompanied by an attorney before answering questions from the police. Although you do NOT have to be advised of that right until after you are officially arrested. If a person is brought in for questioning, and has not been charged, it is still wise for that person to be accompanied by an attorney who will know how to protect his client from saying anything that be used later against him in court.
Determining whether your under arrest is not always as easy as you think and you may feel like you are under arrest when you re in fact not. Police often hope you feel compelled to answer their questions or to go into the police station and speak with an officer, so you should come right out and ask: “Am I under arrest?” if the answer is “not yet” or “you will be if you don’t start answering my questions” just politely explain that if your not under arrest you want to leave or that you will speak with an attorney and come back in when the attorney is available and if you are told that “yes, you are under arrest” then state that you will be more then happy to answer questions but NOT until after your attorney is present- “I want to remain silent and will only answer questions when my attorney is present”. See information about what to do if your arrested, below.
Also, even if you are under arrest, the police DO NOT HAVE TO READ YOU YOUR RIGHTS until they begin to ask a person self-incriminating questions. So if a person has been arrested but not provided with Miranda rights and that person blurts out incriminating statements those statements CAN be used against them in court.
If the Police are at Your Door...
Call your attorney or Click the arrested/Police at your door link to be connected with an attorney in our defense team 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Do not let them in without a warrant and do not answer any questions until your attorney or an attorney from our defense teams is with you.
POLICE SEEKING TO QUESTION YOU?
Click here and ask one of our defense team to be present during the questioning.
Remember this important piece of information: under various circumstances the police are allowed to lie to you. For example, they can tell you that a co-conspirator has confessed or that they have a witness or other evidence against you that you do not have. The best way to prevent someone from manipulating you into saying something that may later be used against you, no matter how harmless you may think the information may be, is to only answer questions when an attorney is there to protect you.
Remember this Important Piece of Advice...
If you insist on not having an attorney with you when giving a statement to the police (again extremely unadvisable) DO NOT let the police officer write your statement for you or get you to sign the officer’s version of what you have just said. The person questioning you knows exactly what they need you to say to best support a conviction and will surely have a purpose behind each and every question, despite how harmless or meaningless it seems when asked and will write the statement so that it touches on every element of the crime that it can. Moreover the officer may misinterpret what you have said ever so slightly that when you read the statement it seems close enough to what occurred or was said that you nonetheless sign it. This can happen to even the most intelligent person regardless of guilt or innocence. There is absolutely no requirement to put your statement in writing or that you sign someone else’s notes about your conversation; you should NEVER sign anything without an attorney reviewing it before hand.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
The Search
Ordinarily, the police must have search warrant before conducting a search. However, after you have been arrested, the police may search your person and the immediate area around you without a warrant. This is known as a "search incident to arrest." The police may also search, if at the time of arrest, the arresting officer observes contraband. If the arresting officer finds items that are illegal to possess, such as a gun, drugs or drug paraphernalia, at the time of arrest, the arresting officer will retrieve the item(s) and charge you for unlawful possession of the item(s). The arresting officer may also take your wallet, identification, money and other personal items from you at the time of your arrest, for inventory purposes, and maintain the items in a secure place until your items can be returned to you, or used as evidence against you. It is important to verify that all of the items the officer removed from you are inventoried on a written list.
HOWEVER, recent 2009 United States Supreme Court rulings have drastically altered and limited police officers’ ability to search a vehicle incident to an arrest including under what circumstances police can search the passanger compartment of the vehicle. It may take several years before police officer’s are trained to comply with these recent changes and unfortunately too many attorneys do not keep abreast of each and every Suprmem Court ruling dealing with criminal law and procedure.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
The Arrest
In an arrest, a police officer, state trooper, or sheriff restrains your freedom of movement because of your possible involvement in a criminal offense. The arresting officer may take you into custody, or you may be stopped, verbally or physically, for questioning about a crime. At the time of your arrest, the arresting officers should inform you they have a warrant and produce the warrant for your review.
Without your consent or extraordinary circumstances, the police cannot arrest you in your home without a warrant. The police can arrest you without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe that you committed an offense in their presence, or when an individual informs an officer that you have just allegedly committed an offense.
You can be arrested for committing a misdemeanor, which is a lesser crime. Some examples of misdemeanors are: disorderly conduct, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving without a valid driver's license, assault, battery, domestic battery, criminal damage to property, indecent exposure, theft, retail theft, resisting a police officer, stalking, and deceptive practice.
In addition, a citizen, such as a security guard or store owner, may detain you if you have committed, for example, the offense of retail theft, in their presence. In this instance, they must promptly turn you over to the police.
If you are arrested for a felony without a warrant, you are entitled to a prompt hearing (preliminary hearing) to determine whether or not the arresting officer had probable cause (the minimum level of required evidence) to arrest you. However, you may not have an opportunity for a preliminary hearing, where your attorney can cross-examine the arresting officer and challenge the State's evidence. The State is allowed to avoid a preliminary hearing by submitting evidence, in secret, to a grand jury which will return a bill of indictment against you.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
When You Are in Custody
After you have been arrested, you will be taken into custody. Your arrest will be recorded in police records, and you will be fingerprinted and photographed. After you have been taken into custody and processed, you will need to obtain bail money in order to be released.
You may be asked to participate in a line-up. This is a procedure in which several people, including a suspect, are shown to victims and witnesses of a crime to determine whether or not they can identify the person who committed the offense. If the police ask you to participate in a line-up, you have a right to have an attorney present.
Several hours or days may pass before you appear before a judge who can consider releasing you.
During this period, stay calm and do not discuss the circumstances of your arrest with anyone! Any statements you make, even if you think they are harmless, may be reported to the police and used as evidence against you.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
Being Detained vs. Being Arrested
A police officer may detain a person, without arresting the person, if the officer has articulable suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal activity. For example, a police officer may request identification and conduct a limited search for weapons (for the officer's safety) if the officer observes a person pacing in front of a closed store late at night. This is called a "Terry Stop." Or, a store owner or employee might detain a person for a short time if they have a strong reason to believe that the person has stolen or was attempting to steal something from the store.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
What Should I do if I have been Arrested?
If you have been arrested, answer all questions about your identification-- such as name, address, and birth date-- truthfully. While you have the right to refrain from answering self-incriminating questions, lying will always make things worse. Giving officers a hard time during the arrest process is also not very beneficial because whether your rights are being violated or not, a police officer can do whatever it is they intend to do and it will not be until later, once you’ve contacted an attorney or get in front of a Judge that any violation of your rights will make the slightest bit of difference. So don’t argue but don’t answer any questions without your lawyer present; simply explain that you will be more then happy to answer any questions once your attorney is present.
Remember this very important piece of advice:
You can not say “I really think I should have a lawyer present” or “do I need a lawyer, I think that would be best” you must clearly state in the affirmative: “I want an attorney present before I answer any questions”. After that any and all questioning must stop. People often think if they just answer questions and tell their side then everything will be explained and the police will understand that there has been a mistake. This is almost always not the case. Unfortunately police often feel very strongly that they have the right person and that anything you say is a lie or they are just waiting for you to say even the littlest thing to support their theory of the case.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689
What should I do if I get a Call that a Loved one has been Arrested?
Try to gather as much information as possible about the arrest and write it down. Keep in mind that the call is being recorded so if you are called directly by someone who has been arrested don’t ask any questions about what they did or didn’t do and remind them that the call is being recorded before asking any questions. The following questions may be useful: What is the name, birth date, and social security number of the arrested person? What has s/he been charged with? What law enforcement agency made the arrest? Where is the arrested person being held? Has bail been set and, if so, what is the amount?
When a family member or friend, who has been arrested, calls, remind him or her that they have a right to an attorney, and that they are not required to respond to police questioning until an attorney is present.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with your criminal legal matter.
Contact the law offices of Motta & Motta, L.L.P. and an attorney will answer your questions. You can call or email us for a FREE case opinion.
Phone: 630.844.2766
Fax: 630.596.1689