Criminal Attorney Can Help Secure Deferred Prosecution

Sitting in jail is a terrifying experience. You had to be processed, your clothing was taken, and your fingerprints were filed. Then you were forced into a large holding cell with twenty other people, given a toothbrush and told to find a bunk. Those first hours can feel like a lifetime as you wonder how this happened and what has brought your life to this point. Often the events that lead to the arrest will run over and over in your mind. Questions of morality and behavior will run rampant and you will wonder how things had gotten so out of hand. You may have thought that you would never break the law let alone get arrested. You consider the prospect of jail time and fines and fees and perhaps feel a fair measure of anxiety over the things to come. Well, it may sound like a truism but this too shall pass. There are a lot of things that can be done and a whole lot of decisions and discussions that need to take place before any of these serious negative consequences begin to take effect. Fortunately, a criminal attorney can help with some of these questions and repercussions.

First of all keep a level head. You will be arraigned and either released on your own recognizance. Your own recognizance means that your crime is not so severe, your finances not so expendable and your community ties sound enough to keep you from fleeing and your criminal attorney can assure your return to be brought to trial. On the other hand even if you are given a bail it is possible to call a bail bondsman or possibly pay it out of pocket. Either way you can be back out and sleeping in your own bed within a day or two.

One of the things a criminal attorney will seek when talking with the prosecution is a deferred prosecution. This is where the prosecution agrees to grant an amnesty for the punishment and legal proceedings that you are being charged with in exchange for commitment to and completion of an alternate form of treatment and reformation. In many if not most instances this is drug and alcohol treatment and community service. Many offenders commit crimes while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. They do not necessarily benefit from the experience of incarceration as much as they do from entering a rehab program and completing a period of community service.

It should be known that this deferred prosecution is by no means lenient. It generally demands several years of strict adherence with stringent rules and regulations. The ramifications of violating these terms are an immediate resumption of the legal proceedings and often a stiffer penalty than may heave been possible previously.

A criminal attorney will try to get their client a deferred prosecution in order to keep them out of jail and to avoid the stigma of a criminal record. It is up to the defendant to do what is necessary to abide by this beneficial opportunity.