Jail avoidance- Fairfax criminal defense lawyer says overcover risk

Jail avoidance (JA) is among an accused’s top goals, with acquittal or outright dismissal being even better. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, some of the most common initial questions — good ones they are — that I hear from accused people are: Will I get convicted? How do I avoid pretrial detention and pretrial limits on my liberty (for instance barring me from leaving the Commonwealth of Virginia, or requiring pretrial supervision): Am I going to be incarcerated? What will happen to my career, reputation, security clearance, immigration status, and child custody rights? What to do if convicted? What do I do if sentenced to incarceration? Should I appeal a conviction? What is your fee at the trial level? What is your fee for an appeal? In order of each of these questions, I answer many of these questions with the approach of overcovering risk, to include obtaining the best possible lawyer you can for your case who will work relevantly hard and caringly for you with full focus. Consequently, to minimize getting convicted, obtain a lawyer with experience and ability to avoid a conviction and to win at trial. To get released from incarceration pending trial or to avoid or minimize the limits on your liberty while not incarcerated and awaiting your trial date, work with your lawyer on that. To avoid incarceration, avoid a conviction, and ask your lawyer what self improvement steps you can to assist you with any sentencing arranged through a plea deal and/or through a sentencing proceeding (and talk to your Virginia criminal attorney before making the incorrect conclusion that engaging in self improvement amounts to admitting being guilty). Regarding career, reputation, security clearance, immigration status and child custody rights, all of those should be motivators for you to obtain the best possible lawyer for you, to fight well as a team with your lawyer, to know your risks for each of those categories from a variety of conviction types and sentences (you can ask your lawyer for ideas and for professionals who deal with security clearances, immigration risks and family law if your lawyer does not know the answer, and ask your lawyer about your obligation as a security clearance or public trust holder to report your pending prosecution to your facilities security officer (FSO), and talk with your lawyer about revealing those risks to the prosecution during sentencing and your sentencing judge (if convicted) to work to minimize those risks. Talk with your lawyer about your appeal rights before your trial date. Talk with your lawyer about what to do to reduce your sentencing risks and to handle any sentence. Certainly you want to know now only what your preferred lawyer’s billing structure, but also how much to expect to pay for a possible appeal and for possible fines, costs, probation-required programs, and case expenses.

Jail avoidance is not about wishful thinking, but about hard and smart work with your Virginia criminal lawyer

Jail avoidance is certainly not about wishful thinking. Assistant commonwealth’s attorneys (ACAs) / prosecutors in Virginia run the gamut starting from law and order and by-the-book people whose reaction to efforts for favorable case settlement negotiations is their response that the Virginia criminal defendant should not have committed the crime in the first place if they wanted to avoid a conviction and sentence. Efforts can be challenging to open such a prosecutor’s eyes and ears to the fact that some people get falsely or mistakenly accused; not all police and civilians tell the truth all of the time (which is the same for a large percentage of the human population); sometimes witnesses are mistaken; sometimes culpability levels are not as bad as accused; and some crimes are on the lower seriousness level to give the defendant an opportunity to not have that error seriously harm their future. On the other end of the spectrum are prosecutors who look not only at public safety and taking care of alleged victims, but also considering the impact of the case on the defendant and the defendant’s family, whether the chief or line prosecutor calls themselves progressive or not. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that the Fairfax county prosecutor’s office in many (but certainly not all) respects often takes the defendant into account during settlement negotiations in ways more favorable (or no less favorable) than many other Virginia jurisdictions. Fairfax is not the only jurisdiction, but is an example of that. Nonetheless, you and your Virginia criminal lawyer must never merely wish for a favorable settlement rather than taking the three-pronged approach of being fully trial ready, negotiating from a position of trial-ready strength (and preferring settlements that do not involve convictions, with outright dismissals the most desirable) and having completed relevant self-improvement approaches, and being fully prepared for any sentencing

How important is self improvement / self rehabilitation to Fairfax and other prosecutors?

Repeatedly I hear from certain Fairfax and other prosecutors in certain cases that my client’s self improvement / self-rehabilitation steps were the only reason that the prosecutor agreed to as favorable a settlement (preferably including jail avoidance, and even better than that) as they did, whether that be when I get a Virginia DUI prosecution reduced to reckless driving, or avoid a harsher result otherwise. Sometimes a Virginia prosecutor can be so impressed and even taken with a criminal defendant’s self improvement steps that the ACA advocates fully to the judge for a favorable outcome. One example of that is the time that an ACA walked up to me about my client’s felony sentencing hearing date (after the since-relocated prosecutor seemed much more intransigent about getting the best possible sentencing), told me how great was all my client’s self improvement, and told me that he was going to advocate for a time-served sentence (with a suspended incarceration sentence and probation with additional terms and conditions) even though the sentencing cap in the agreement was higher than that. The prosecutor made many of my own client-beneficial arguments for me to the judge before I even was given an opportunity to address the judge. The judge gave my client a time-served sentence even though his conviction was for a crime that would make nobody want to be his next door neighbor.

How important are trial readiness and sentencing readiness to JA?

Trial readiness and sentencing readiness are essential to jail avoidance. Wars are not won by underarmed neophytes. Successful intricate surgeries are not achieved by a first year medical student. Diplomatically ask your potential Virginia criminal lawyer the necessary questions to know at the outset not only your potential attorney’s relevant ability and experience, but also what that attorney will do for you, and what are that attorney’s suggested alternative game plans, including advice about potential expert witness(es) (and their names and billing structure), treatment providers, investigators and other professionals to assist in obtaining the best possible results in fighting your Virginia felony, misdemeanor or DUI prosecution.

Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz takes a two-fisted approach to your defense against Virginia felony, misdemeanor and DWI prosecutions, because you merit such a fight, because Jon Katz is fully devoted to your criminal defense, and because Jon believes that a prosecution should not have to result in damage that can be avoided by you and your attorney. You will know early on what Jon means by this during your first meeting with him. For your free in-person initial confidential consultation with Jon Katz about your court-pending prosecution, by contacting us at 703-383-1100, Info@KatzJustice.com and (text) 571-406-7268.