It is pretty common clients come to our staff desperate because they just found out that they are under investigation. And the common questions are: what does it mean? What can I expect from that? Am I going to jail? Do I need an attorney while I am under investigation? What should I do?
1. FIRST, CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IMMEDIATELY.
2. THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IS KEEP QUIET AND RESIST TO DISCUSS THE DETAILS OF YOUR CASE WITH OTHERS.
Sometimes, if you are being under investigation, the law enforcement could show up at your front door and could research your home, if they have a warrant to do so. Often, the first instinct is to talk about what occurs with other about the investigation. You should not do this, first you could be charged of obstruction of justice and second, the person that you discussed your case, could be subpoenaed, or forced to talk with the law enforcement. So, the best thing you could do, is to keep it down, do not talk about your case with others.
3. AVOID DESTROYING EVIDENCE.
The third step that you could do is simply, do not destroy any evidence. If you have possess of files and documents that could contain evidence and information of the case, do not destroy or modify. It is also a crime to destroy evidence, and if you do so, it could aggravated your penalty or a guilty verdict
4. DO NOT LIE.
If you lie to a law enforcement, this conduct could be treat as a separate crime and it could aggravate your sentence and penalty in your case. If you can't lie, simply do not incriminate yourself either, you could claim your fifth amendment right in remaining silent. You have the constitutional right to refuse to talk with a law enforcement, it is better to remain in silent than lie to a law enforcement. You could always use your right and contact the San Diego Criminal Attorney before speaking with an officer.
WHAT DOES UNDER INVESTIGATION MEAN?
Now, let's explain with details what it means to be under investigation. Being under investigation, means that the local police, the law enforcement or investigators are looking for evidence of a specific crime and you are probably one of the suspect of a crime. However, it does not mean that you are going to be arrested for it now, but it is important to be aware that you could be arrest in the future.
Under investigation is one of the first stage of being part of a criminal case, during this period, the investigators are reaching out to you or your family to gather additional information to strengthen their case against you. Once, they gather sufficient information and have probable cause to believe that you committed a crime, you could be arrested. The stage of being investigated it is crucial to collect evidence against you, sometimes the law enforcement and investigators could ask you trick questions that could lead you to self-incrimination. Any mistake made when answering to law enforcement could be extremely damage you. Usually, the interrogation could be particularly stressful and most of the times, the stress could lead you to make wrong statement or you wanted to explain your position, but you overly talk. The law enforcement usually use the answers from an interrogation against you, they are trained and prepared to elicit information, in which could support their case and could be substantial important evidence to use against you into court. It is important to have the assistance of an attorney, prior talking with a law enforcement.
Furthermore, sometimes the law enforcement, or officer could visit a client in person or even make a phone call contact inquiring if he/she has knowledge of the facts of a specific crime that occurred. The law enforcement may be interested in the person as a witness or even a suspect. However, it is crucial that the person who has been investigated, shouldn't say or do anything during the investigation that could lead to incriminate himself.
Pre-filing, is the stage that the law enforcement starts the investigation against the suspect of committing or associated with a crime. In this stage, it is just investigation, a gather of evidence and information to know who had committed the crime. During this stage, no charges have formally been filed at this time. At this point, the investigators might contact the suspects, their families and other that they could be associated with, but the suspects are not required to talk to anyone or prove any type of information during the questioning. If you have been under investigation, do not wait until you are arrested to get assistance of an attorney. Since this period of time, is essential to your case, the importance of the attorney is to guarantee your rights under the investigation.
The first thing that you should do after knowing that you are being under investigation, is hiring a criminal attorney to make sure that your rights have been protected under the constitution. It is crucial to your future and your case that you protect your rights by retaining an assistance of a criminal defense attorney prior answer to any question.
Even if the Constitution establishes the right to counsel just apply to the critical stage of a criminal prosecution case, you should always be assisted by an attorney. During this time, while the investigation is occurring, it is not mandatory by law that you must be assisted by an attorney. However, San Diego Criminal Attorney believes that is crucial to be represented by an attorney during this stage, since any evidence or statement that you made, could be used against you or even incriminate yourself. This stage is not a gambling, you should not risk your life just because you have not being charged yet, the duty of attorneys is to defend their client in the most respectful way, do not hesitate, contacting our team and schedule an appointment.
San Diego Criminal Attorney can promptly start beginning the research on your case and providing you the best legal advice. Our team have the expertise to reach out the law enforcement in the beginning of your criminal process to prevent further interviews, interrogations, line-up, fingerprinting or any process of investigation used to compilate evidence in which could be used against you later. A recognized criminal attorney can protect your rights and representing your case to diminish the allegations, and also often could informally settle the issues on your case. Sometimes, the arrest is unavoidable, in other words, depending on the crime, the arrest is going to occurs anyway, however an attorney can help clients with a voluntary surrender to avoid being arrested in public, as well as arranging bail as fast as the attorney can.
Some crimes in California could lead a person of a misdemeanor or even a felony conviction, if a person is convicted of any crime, the conviction is going to be on the person's criminal records. If you are looking for a job and the employer does a criminal background check and there is a crime registered, it is likely that the employer won't hire someone with a misdemeanor or felony background. If you has been under investigation, you should promptly look for a Lawyer. San Diego Criminal Attorney has a great deal of success defending our clients and we can help you build legal defenses that it could be use to contest these types of charges. If you would like more information, please contact our successful staff to help you with your legal problems.
One of the services that sets San Diego Criminal Attorney apart is representing our clients during an investigation prior to an arrest or filing of criminal charges. The investigation stage could be crucial to the results of someone's case, it is important to have the best attorney to assists a person while the occurring of an investigation.
As explained already, having an experience attorney on your side during this period of time could make difference between being arrested and charged or remaining at liberty. Usually, an investigation for a crime can go on for months, and knowing that your attorney is protecting your interests during this time can be trivial and relieve of the fear and anxiety of knowing that you may be a suspect of a crime.
If you suspect that you may be under investigation, do not hesitate in contacting our office. Our team has the duty to protect the confidence of our clients, all communications are held in confidence and our team do everything to guarantee and insure that your rights have been protected. The attorneys at San Diego Criminal Attorney always meets its clients in privacy and we guarantee that our office is prevented any outside monitoring of our meeting.
Furthermore, if you have been contacted by a law enforcement or investigator, remember, you always have the right to remain in silent, the Constitution guarantee the protection of not self-incriminating, it is your most important right. Also, it is not mandatory to be represented by attorney during the investigation stage, however, San Diego Criminal Attorney team is dedicating in protect its clients and their rights under this tough period of their life. If you or your member family is being under investigation in connection with a crime, do not hesitate and contact our team to schedule a consultation today.
