What can I do to help with my criminal charges?
First and foremost, listen to your lawyer – John Fanney
Now, I’m not saying that because I have all the answers and I don’t want to hear what you have to say.
What I mean by that is you’ve come to someone for advice, you’ve come to them because they have experience, you believe in their experience, you believe in the knowledge they have, and you’ve heard about good results that other folks have gotten from them.
It’s really hard to work with someone who pays lawyers their fees and then doesn’t want to listen.
They want to direct where the case goes.
They want to tell the lawyer about the theories they have of the case, and that’s all information that a lawyer should listen to, but ultimately the lawyer is kind of like the airline pilot.
You get on the plane.
You tell the airline pilot where you want to go.
The airline pilot decides how you get there. That’s the role a lawyer has to play.
I mean there’s a lot of things that you could do.
For example, in some cases you may consider going to drug rehab, alcohol rehab. You may put on an alcohol monitor bracelet. We call that mitigation.
A good lawyer would tell you there are steps you can take, performing community service, getting an assessment and going to substance abuse classes, going to domestic offenders classes, meeting with a therapist, getting a psychological evaluation, any number of things that tend to lessen what may happen to you if you go to court and you don’t win your case.
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A lot of clients come to me and go, “Hey, I’m happy to do my own research.”
Well, that’s great, and I encourage people to read things and maybe come to me with questions, but you have to realize one of the things that you’re paying your lawyer to do is to do that very research.
That’s one reason why lawyers go to law school. Law schools are good for a couple of things.
They teach you how to think like a lawyer and they teach you how to find the law.
If you don’t know what it is, they teach you how to go find it.
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Lawyers have to do a lot of things to prepare for a case.
A good lawyer is going to tell you exactly what you should do and some of the things you should not do.
For example, don’t call the victims and apologize.
Don’t speak to other witnesses without talking to your lawyer first.
Don’t confer with your neighbors or your friends.
Your lawyer has a confidence with you.
If you think there’s things you can do that your lawyer hasn’t talked with you about, call them up, send them an email, and say, “Hey, I’m thinking about doing A, B, or C.”
Your lawyer, if they’re a good lawyer and experienced, will tell you whether that’s a good idea or not.
I do that every day.
I’m John Fanney. I’ve been doing criminal defense work in Wake County, Raleigh, North Carolina, and other parts of North Carolina for 30 years.
Board certified specialist by the state bar in criminal defense work. I’d like to help you.
Give me a call NOW for a FREE CONSULT: (919)-617-7009.
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