Documents Your Attorney Needs After Your Arrest

If the police have arrested you for an offense, your defense lawyer needs to understand various things about the development to help them develop a solid defense strategy.

Apart from the information you provide verbally during your first legal consultation, your lawyer needs to lay hands on relevant documents to know how to handle the alleged offense.

You may have some of these documents, while others may be with individuals, the government, or the court.

This article discusses the documents you need to get handy before consulting with a criminal defense attorney. This checklist is relevant to all categories of attorneys—private lawyers, public defenders, and legal aid attorneys—as every lawyer needs sufficient information to make an informed decision.

Items To Hold During Your First Consultation With A Criminal Defense Attorney

It is crucial to come up with the following documents when meeting with a criminal attorney for the first time:

The Arrest Record

Law enforcement will create documents to record your arrest immediately after apprehending you. A written report of your arrest that the law enforcement has filled out is one such document.

Your attorney needs a report copy to review the arrest’s time, date, and location. Further, the document will enlighten the attorney on the alleged crime, victim, and other crucial details to help the attorney prepare adequately as a criminal defendant.

Your Criminal Record

Your attorney is interested in your criminal record if the police have arrested you before. While it is ideal that you provide this information yourself, the attorney can also get it by requesting a copy of your record from the relevant authorities.

The record will reveal your past involvement(s) in crime and arraignment processes. The lawyer will know about past pleas and verdicts related to the criminal charges and if you have served prison or jail time for those offenses.

Also, the record may contain information about past parole or probation. If you have any, getting records from your parole officer is essential.

The Police File

The police have probably created a file when investigating your alleged involvement in the crime. The file may contain pictures, interview notes with the officer, the first police report, maps, evidence logs, and other information unraveled in the process.

Your lawyer is entitled to access a complete copy of the police file in the US criminal justice system to enable them to mount up a strong defense. Your attorney requires any proof from law enforcement that tends to indict or exonerate you.

Your Mental Health Records

Avail your lawyer with your history of mental health treatment, if you have any, because your mental health may play a role in your defense. For instance, your lawyer may tell you to plead insanity as a defense due to your mental state by relying on your mental records.

Your Medical Details

Sometimes, medical records are relevant to criminal law matters. For instance, if your arrest record indicates that law enforcement pursued you for 20 blocks before apprehending you, your medical records could be crucial.

They may reveal that you suffer from catastrophic asthma, a condition that restricts you from jogging more than three blocks at a time.

To establish the untruthfulness of your arrest, your attorney may push up the records as evidence of how the police maltreated you.

Additionally, your attorney may extract evidence, like the prescription medicines you were using during the arrest, from your medical records to determine if they probably impaired your thinking or actions.

Your Vehicle Records

Suppose law enforcement charges you with a crime dealing with a vehicle or another car, like arresting you for drunk driving, and you need to formulate a DUI defense issue. In that case, your lawyer may require your vehicle records from the government.

“Also, the records may be helpful to alibi and identity issues. For instance, if law enforcement was searching for a suspect fitting your description who drives a white car, but yours is yellow, your vehicle records can help your lawyer argue you are not the suspect the police are hunting,” says criminal defense attorney Summer Goldman of Goldman Wetzel, PLLC.

Details About Witnesses

If you think they were witnesses, especially those the police did not contact when investigating the alleged crime, give your lawyer their names and contact details.

However, if you do not know their names, reveal any information you know about them to your attorney. For instance, you can describe their physical features and where they were during the crime.

The attorney will liaise with you to contact as many witnesses as possible, as you cannot guess which one will give you a solid defense for your issue.

Paper Trails

Paper trails are a vast category covering all documented evidence types. Specifically, a paper trail is crucial if they accuse you of a white-collar offense like tax evasion. To determine your guilt, your attorney needs to examine your formal records of tax filings.

Also, suppose they accuse you of committing a crime in Florida on a day you claim to be in Detroit, Michigan, for a business conference. In that case, your lawyer needs any paper trail you created on the journey, like long-distance telephone bills, restaurant and hotel expenses, and airline tickets, to prove your innocence of the offense.

Details About Your Alibi

If you assert you had an alibi for your location during the alleged offense, give your lawyer the name and contact details of anybody who can ascertain that alibi. It may be essential proof in supporting or declining the defense in your case.

Speak To A Criminal Defense Attorney On Questions About Your Arrest

If the police have arrested you and leveled criminal charges against you, contacting a reliable local criminal defense attorney is crucial. Speaking with a lawyer promptly is a proactive step to ensure the tide does not turn against you.

You will give your attorney an accelerated speed for your case when you help them get the necessary documents to prosecute the matter. By making the documents available, you have increased your chances of a positive outcome.

Speak with a local attorney quickly to enlighten you on the options available for your case and how to go about it strategically. Also, they will give you an estimate of their services and a convenient payment structure to make things run seamlessly.

Read Also:

• How House Arrest Is Shaping Criminal Justice Reform
• What Should You Do After a DUI Arrest?
• What Constitutes A Warrant Of Arrest