A commission or omission of an act in violation of a law which forbids or commands it, is considered a crime. If there is a complaint lodged against you regarding an act which was committed or omitted, you may be arrested and prosecuted under the Criminal Law system of a particular State. If you have been charged and arrested under such circumstances, always remember that you must hire the services of a good Criminal Law attorney to help you defend yourself.

Your defense attorney will make sure that all the procedures and processes leading to your arrest were followed. This is because any deviation from the required process will work in your defense and an experienced defense attorney will examine everything to make sure your rights were not violated when you were arrested.

In Arizona criminal justice, for instance, several stages are involved, including the proceedings, beginning with the commission of the crime up to the probation process. The criminal justice begins to roll when the crime is reported to the local authorities who then begin to investigate and collect the evidence. Once there is enough evidence, they will make the necessary arrest. The arrested person is then brought to the police station, fingerprinted, photographed and temporarily detained. There are cases where the arrested individual is immediately released after data was gathered and there are also cases where the person arrested is required to post a bond to ensure their appearance in court. During this time, the presence of a defense attorney will certainly be very helpful for the arrested person.

Within twenty four hours of the arrest, the person charged with an offense is required to make an appearance before the court where the judge will establish if the evidence is sufficient to support the reasonability of the charges. Since the court appearance would already involve some legal knowledge, the defense attorney will be the one who will answer for the accused. At this point, if the accused was unable to get the services of an attorney, the judge will appoint a defense attorney to defend him in court. It is, however, a sound decision if you will instead choose and hire services of an attorney who will defend you.

In certain circumstances, the Office of the State Attorney, after it has reviewed the local authorities’ arrest procedure, may file formal charges against the person who was arrested. He will then be scheduled for arraignment proceedings and once again, the presence of a defense lawyer to represent him will be required. It will be during this time that the defense lawyer, upon conferring with his client, will enter a plea of not guilty or guilty.

Once a plea is entered, another process will take place and this time, if the plea entered is not guilty, may involve trial preparations where the defense attorney will begin to interview witnesses and would also have the chance to be apprised of the evidence against the accused. The criminal justice process ends when during the trial, the criminal defense attorney proved that the accused is not guilty and the court agreed with him. If found guilty, however, the judge will review the sentence guidelines or plea agreements, then determines what type of sentence he will impose on the accused. If there is a chance to appeal the decision, the defense lawyer will begin another tedious preparation to file the appeal to a higher court.

By: Frank Schumacher