Hiring a criminal defense attorney is worth it because most ordinary people don’t know the process very well; their greatest struggle is with just not knowing what to do. The judge and the prosecutor are not there to represent them, as the defendant; they have no one to actually look out for their interests and no one to answer their questions, they go into the case not knowing.

One of the greatest benefits to hiring a criminal defense attorney is that they know the process. They know whether or not the plea is a good one. They can answer most of your questions, and they will minimize the stress levels a defendant will experience.

If I had to put myself in a judge’s shoes and determine the worst part of a pro per, which is a defendant who defends themselves, it would have to be that they don’t know any of the rules and they don’t know the proper way to ask the court to do something. Often, the court can’t do anything because they’re supposed to be in the middle, unbiased, and if you don’t ask them to do what you need them to do and you can’t provide them with the proof and a worthy explanation for your request they may not be able to grant it.

For example, suppose a lot of medical stuff has happened, and the defendant needs more time to prepare their case. That defendant doesn’t know what proof they need to give to the court, or how to ask for what they need, but if they don’t do that, they won’t get the continuance they need.

There have been times when a client has taken as much as six months to prepare and needs to go back to court to get a few months more. But the court can’t do that if the prosecutor is objecting, and they don’t know how to ask the right way, or provide the proof they need in order to get the time.

When people represent themselves, their requests are often denied because they don’t know the rules of evidence, and the court can’t just admit stuff for you if you don’t follow the rules.

A not guilty plea would obviously be delivered before either a bench or a jury trial. A case dismissal can happen either before trial or after what’s called a Rule 20 motion, which happens right after the State has presented its case. That’s a directed verdict from the court where basically the judge is saying, “Look, the prosecutor put on their case and there wasn’t enough evidence to convict you here.” Then the defense doesn’t have to present a case.

For me, I’d rather have a case dismissed prior to trial, because it’s preferable to not have to go to trial. Statistically speaking, defendants don’t fare well at trial; the state wins most of them. Therefore, getting a dismissal before trial is usually better.

Sometimes, a dismissal isn’t a good thing, however. Sometimes, prosecutors use case dismissals to buy themselves more time; they’ll simply dismiss the case and re-file. That confuses many defendants, who often think the dismissal means their case is done, which it isn’t.

A dismissal should happen for a valid reason. For example, I just had a case dismissed yesterday. I walked into a pretrial conference, obtained the police report and noticed that the stop was unconstitutional and spoke to the prosecutor, who is going to dismiss the case. That’s a legitimate dismissal because it’s based on the facts and legal issues in this case.

On the other hand, a couple of months ago a client’s blood wasn’t in, and the case was dismissed. The client was really excited, but I had to explain to her that it was going to be re-filed.

When it comes to warrantless searches, DUI and criminal cases are different. In DUI cases, if they don’t have a warrant, there’s often implied consent, and if you refuse to consent to a breath or blood test, you’ll lose your license for a year and they’ll just get a search warrant anyway.

In criminal cases, never consent to a warrantless search; make them get a warrant. Don’t let them in your house, and don’t let them search your car. They may sound polite, but they know you don’t know any better, so they will just ask you to let them search. With respect to anything criminal, never ever consent to a search without a warrant, ever.

Misdemeanors are generally less severe than felonies. And in Arizona – Arizona has a number based system that describes the severity of the crime alleged. So misdemeanors are divided into class 1, 2, and 3 misdemeanors, and they have different ranges for the penalties. So for example, class 1 misdemeanor has a maximum of six months jail whereas a class 3 misdemeanor has a maximum of 30 days jail. Felonies are more serious than misdemeanors and they are also classified by this number based system. So they’re divided into class 1, class 2, class 3, class 4, class 5, class 6 felony. Class 6 felony being known as least serious; class 1 felony being the most serious, ensuring the most consequences – sentencing wise.

A lot of people can see cooperation with the police as meaning they have to tell them everything. You don’t need to always need to tell the police everything that they ask. Sometimes you can ask to speak to an attorney or to say, ‘I don’t feel comfortable answering that question’. A lot of people think that cooperation means answering every single question the police officer asks of them, and that’s not necessarily true. Or doing everything that the police officer asks of them. Such as in a DUI case, you don’t necessarily need to do the field sobriety test – you can say no to doing that. Just, I always say to be polite and be cooperative but you also need to be mindful of what you’re telling the police and what you’re doing.