Why Should Someone Hire An Attorney If They Plan On Pleading Guilty?

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First and foremost, you want an attorney to be a buffer between you and law enforcement contacts; you want an attorney to be able to tell your story, convey information from you, negotiate on your behalf and, most importantly, review all of the evidence that the state has against you and make sure that the best defense is being put forward. Your attorney will also look at whether the state actually has all the evidence that they need to convict you or to put up a good fight in trial because, if they don’t, then there is no sense in just walking into the first or only plea offer that the state is going to make you.

You can plead to what the state may ask you to plead to, and you may be happy with that; but even if that’s what we do in the end, there can be all kinds of negotiations as to the actual punishment that’s going to be imposed on you, including the amount of money that you’re going to have to pay. Sometimes, we’ll negotiate, and especially in theft cases, if they want to impose a restitution order that a client can successfully pay, we will ask the judge to reduce or eliminate the fines, and so that’ll be something that we negotiate.

Walking into the first plea or to a plea offer on your own without the ability to look at those options, determine the strength of the case against you and present any information about yourself to the prosecutor is going to leave you with probably the worst possible plea offer at the end of the day or in a position where you are not going to be able to negotiate any terms to your benefit.

How Do You Advise Clients That Want To Plead Guilty To Theft Charges?

People don’t realize that, especially with a lot of people here in Arizona dealing with immigration issues, pleading to shoplifting and thefts has disastrous consequences. Even though they are low-level offenses with maybe not as severe penalties, they can result in deportation immediately, denial of benefits and the inability to work at certain jobs, including government jobs. Just walking into a plea or pleading guilty, without doing any negotiation or review of the evidence, could be disastrous for your future even if you don’t feel it in the immediate short term.

Additional Information Regarding Theft Charges In Arizona

It’s always good to have an attorney, no matter what you’re charged with but especially in a case where so much of the evidence is going to be based on what you are thinking or what your actions say to people. So it’s very important to have an attorney that can look at all of that and see if they can present some of the information that shows the prosecution that either they are getting it wrong or there is definitely evidence to support that was not the mindset of the client at the time. It’s just very important to have an attorney that’s going to review all aspects and all possible consequences of the resolutions in your case.

For more information on Hiring An Attorney, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (602) 456-1982 today.