The Benson Law Office, LLC is a Spokane law firm that focuses its practice solely on criminal defense with an emphasis on DUI and felony cases. The primary purpose of the Benson Law Office, LLC is to provide experienced and dedicated help to people who find themselves charged with a crime and in need of a Spokane criminal lawyer. The Benson Law Office, LLC has successfully defended thousands of criminal cases from DUI to the most serious felony crimes in Spokane and throughout Eastern Washington.
Beginning of the Case-Retaining the Benson Law Office, LLC
If you have been charged or accused of committing a crime, you need to contact an experienced Spokane criminal lawyer immediately. Making the right decisions early on in your case will reap benefits later on. Most often a person charged with a crime will contact a lawyer before his or her first court hearing. This is a good idea because you need a lawyer at your first court hearing and your lawyer needs time to prepare. Furthermore, in more serious cases, the earlier you hire a lawyer, the sooner your lawyer will be able to start working on your case. There is a lot of work to do in serious cases even before the first court hearing. In fact, in serious felony cases, the best practice is to hire an attorney as soon as you know that you are under investigation for a crime. Your attorney will be able to conduct an investigation, begin preparing your defense and open a dialogue with the authorities. Your attorney may even be able to prevent charges from ever being filed.
Defense Investigation
After you have retained the Benson Law Office, LLC, your Spokane criminal lawyer will begin work on your case immediately. Initially, you and your lawyer will meet and discuss all the facts of the case. This discussion is critical because your lawyer will need to know everything about the alleged crime. Please keep in mind that everything you and your lawyer talk about is protected by the attorney-client privilege so you must be open and fully honest with your lawyer. However, do not talk to anyone else about the facts of the case because anything you say to third parties may be used against you in court.
Once your Spokane criminal lawyer at the Benson Law Office, LLC has met with you to discuss the facts of the case, he will obtain a copy of the police reports in your case. The police reports contain all of the facts and evidence that the prosecuting attorney intends to use against you in trial. However, the police reports do not contain all the relevant facts of the case. A thorough defense investigation of the case is absolutely necessary to discover additional facts and circumstances beneficial to your case. The defense investigation will include:
Review of all Police Reports.
Examination of all of the State's Evidence.
Interviewing all of the State's Witnesses.
Contacting and Interviewing Defense Witnesses.
Viewing the Crime Scene and Physical Evidence.
Conducting Forensic Testing Where Necessary.
Once your criminal defense lawyer has completed the defense investigation, he will meet with you to review all of the facts and to discuss your potential defenses. Moreover, the information obtained from the defense investigation will assist your lawyer in determining the strength or weakness of the State's case. This is very important because this information will be used in plea negotiations and may impact the nature of any negotiated settlement.
Plea Negotiations
Plea negotiations are an integral part of the criminal justice system. If every criminal case proceeded to trial, the courts would seize up from congestion and the system would break down. Therefore, the vast majority of criminal cases are resolved through plea negotiations.
A plea deal is simply an agreement between the accused and the prosecuting attorney to resolve the case with the entry of a guilty plea to the charged offense or a reduced charge for a particular sentence recommendation. Your criminal defense lawyer at Benson Law Office, LLC will aggressively negotiate your case with the prosecuting attorney using the facts obtained from the defense investigation and any legal issues beneficial to your case. Plea negotiations may take months to finalize, but in the end the most important factor is obtaining the best plea deal possible. Your lawyer and you will be in constant communication with you regarding the status of the plea negotiations so that your imput is part of the process.
Where a case resolves through plea negotiations, the accused in most cases enters a guilty plea to the charged crime or a reduced charge. Sometimes negotiations result in an alternative resolution to that of entering a guilty plea such as a deferred sentence. In any event, the decision to resolve your case through plea negotiations is ultimately up to you. You have a constitutional right to a jury trial and you are the only person who can waive that right. Your attorney will discuss the plea bargain with you and outline your chances at trial, but you must make the final decision to accept a plea deal or not.
Pretrial Motions Practice
Pretrial motions practice may take place before or after plea negotiations. Once your criminal defense lawyer has obtained and evaluated all the relevant facts from the defense investigation he will determine whether there are any colorable pretrial motions to bring before the court. Although there are many different types of pretrial motions, the most common pretrial motions are motions to suppress evidence and to dismiss. There are pretrial motions to continue hearings, to compel discovery and various other procedural motions. Motions to suppress and dismiss are "dispositive" motions, meaning that if the court grants the motion the case will be resolved with a dismissal of the charges. Therefore, your criminal defense lawyer will examine all the evidence to determine whether the facts give rise to a motion to suppress or dismiss. The Benson Law Office, LLC has vast experience in pretrial motions practice and has been successful in resolving many cases through dispositive motions.
Trial
Trial by jury is a fundamental constitutional right of the accused. The Benson Law Office, LLC takes trial practice very seriously and invests a substantial amount of time and resources into every trial. The Benson Law Office, LLC employs a team approach to trial practice. The defense trial team is comprised of the criminal defense lawyer, a criminal investigator, experts where necessary and the accused. Each person on theh team has a vital role to play in developing a successful trial strategy and gameplan.
Post-Trial / Appeal
If you are found guilty after trial, you have a constitutional right to appeal the jury's determination of guilt to a higher court. The Benson Law Office, LLC has substantial experience in representing individuals in appeals from criminal convictions.