Blog has moved

I have decided to migrate my blog to wordpress. To continue to follow me please visit: http://attorneychan.wordpress.com/

Pay attention to this if you don’t want to get stuck sitting in jail for 60 days without the possibility of being bailed out

You get arrested and you go to court for your arraignment. During your arraignment you get released on your own personal recognizance, which means that you are released from custody on no bail. You are all happy and forget to listen to the bail warning. It depends on the court, as some judges like to read the bail warning, while others have the clerk read them to you.

The bail warnings usually sound similar to: you are released on your own personal recognizance. Please be advised that if you are arrested or charged with a new offense while your case is pending your bail may be revoked and you can be held for 60 days without bail.

So if you are released on your own personal recognizance or on bail and you are arrested or charged without another crime your bail may be revoked. When you get arraigned on your second charge the prosecution may file a motion to revoke your bail. If the prosecution files a motion then the judge will rule on the motion. The judge makes his determination based on a two part test. One, is there probable cause to believe that a person committed a crime during his release? Two, if the release will seriously endanger any person or the community? If the judge does revoke your bail you will be taken to jail for 60 days. If you bail is revoked you will be sitting in jail for 60 solid days.

You only need to be arrested or charged with a new crime. The law says that you are innocent until proven guilty, but for the purpose of bail, being arrested may be enough to hold you. Remember, if you have a pending court case and you are out on bail or personal recognizance, make sure you don’t get arrested, or you could spend 60 days in jail.

District Attorney’s Association posted this regarding bail revocation
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=dmdaterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Court+Decisions&L2=Alphabetical+List+by+Case+Name&L3=M+-+S&sid=Dmdaa&b=terminalcontent&f=courts_paquette&csid=Dmdaa

DUI attorneys
http://www.drunkdrivingduilawblog.com/duilaw/bail-may-be-revoked-for-montco-woman-accused-of-dui-manslaughter/

http://www.mycrimespace.com/2007/06/28/scott-shefelbine-may-have-bail-revoked/

Don’t go to a clerk’s hearing without an attorney

A clerk’s hearing or a show cause hearing is very common in Massachusetts. A person can be arrested and brought into court and arraigned, or the clerk may issue a notice for a show cause hearing.

The standard at a clerk’s hearing is probable cause that a crime occurred. The clerk determines whether there is enough cause to issue a criminal complaint or to take no action. These hearings are not open to the public and are not subject to open meeting laws. The way the proceedings are held is completely up to the clerk. However, most clerks usually allow the complainant either the police or the victim to explain their side of the story first. Then the clerk allows the accused to explain their side of the story if they so choose. Finally, after all the testimony is heard, the clerk will make a decision.

So if you receive a notice for a clerk’s hearing, what should you do? You should contact an attorney right away. To put together a good case hearing, your attorney will need the proper amount of time to prepare. It is true that the hearings are not recorded, but anything you say during a hearing is considered an admission, and can be used against you in court later on. It is also possible to get a lot of these complaints resolved during the clerk’s hearing. If the case is resolved during the clerk’s hearing, the charges are never officially filed, and as a result are not recorded on your criminal record.

A lot of people want to go to these hearings themselves without an attorney. Most people believe that as long as they tell their story everything will be fine. The reality is you need to be able to explain your story in the right way. Even if you are able to get a case dismissed later on in the court process, your record will still show that you were charged with the crime. So be smart and hire an attorney as soon as you can.


Massachusetts Bar Association explanation of show cause hearing
http://www.massbar.org/about-the-mba/press-room/journalists'-handbook/22-common-legal-proceedings

Mass. law updates stating that there is no right to access show cause hearings
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/2007/03/no-right-of-access-to-show-cause.html

Attorney Elliot Savitz explanation of show cause hearing with video
http://www.masscriminaldefense.com/clerkshearing.htm

Court to Court: My journey from the maple wood floors of the basketball court, to the mahogany wood desks of the court room

The game ended when I was still seventeen years old. A disappointing defeat at the state finals ended my senior year and a magical twenty game winning streak. At the time, I was about to leave for college in a few months, but I already started to miss my teammates, the game, and above all else the competitive rush. During the fall I would leave good old Hopedale and go to Northeastern for school. I was excited about the new opportunities, but not my life without competitive sports. Like most, I had no idea of what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be. However, I knew that I didn’t want what I did in high school to stand as my only achievements. I also didn’t want the sense of competition to forever elude me, so I went on searching.

A few summers later, I lucked out and got a job with the Suffolk District Attorney’s office as an intern. Knowing very little about the subject beyond what I saw on television, my expectations were limited. It was one of my first days when I got a chance to watch one of my first trials, and when I did I feel in love with the art. I knew that this was what I have been looking for.

Today I realize that the world of competitive sports and trial work has many similarities. For one, practice is a key part of success. There may be people out there that possess a natural gift in terms of scoring a basketball or trying a case, however, I knew that wasn’t me. Trial experts, basketball coaches, colleagues and teammates may tell me how to shoot a ball or object in a trial, but the only way to get better for me was to actually do it.

Second, I must prepare for both. In the past, preparation included scouting the other team, learning the type of defenses they played, the offense sets they ran, and finally preparing a game plan to give my team the best chance to win. In the court room, it is quite the same figuring out the other team’s defensive and offensive strategies and coming up with a game plan to put in the best case.

I also noticed that the mental challenges are similar. For basketball, one of the most difficult things was to play well when I was fatigued. It is no different for me in the court room. Obviously, I am not running around the court as I would on the basketball court, but a case can go for hours to days. The same mental challenges exist for me. During the basketball game, I want to stick tot the game plan, run the right play, get a turnover if possible and not do anything that could lose the game. In the court room, I want to stick to the theory of my case, ask the right questions, object to evidence and not do anything to jeopardize the case. The game and the trial are tiring affairs which make it more difficult to focus and to make the right decisions.

Finally, I love both for its competitive aspect. It is hard to replace the pressure of shooting free throws in a tight game, the euphoria of making a game winning shot, and the sorrow of defeat. Inconceivable to me at the age of 17, but many years later I was able to find that trial work provides some of the same emotions for me. Sure I still try to play in competitive basketball games, but now my battles are done behind a mahogany desk rather than on maple wood floors.

2000 Boy Basketball: Clark Tournament Champions, Central Mass. Champions, State Finalist. http://www.miaa.net/bsktbll-cmass-champions.htm

Police Interrogation (reader suggested topic)

Couple weeks back an avid reader suggested that I write about police interrogations. I liked the idea and finally came up with this. If you have any suggestions for topics please feel free to send them along and I will do my best to write about them. First my disclaimer, I am not a police officer, have never been trained in interrogation and I am not an expert in this area. The following about police interrogation is from my experience in viewing these types of interactions.

There are many things that work against you during an interrogation. The more you understand the process the better you can protect yourself. The best advice is to stay silent and get a lawyer as soon as possible. Aside from that, here are a few points to keep in mind.

The speed of the process. I hear the words, “well it all just happened so quickly” way too often. That is one of the largest problems working against you. Something happens, you get arrested, driven back to the police station, and then they start asking questions. The pace really bothers a lot of people, and it hurts their concentration. A lot of people are still trying to figure out what just happened at the scene, or are stunned about being arrested and as a result don’t pay attention at the police station. It is important that you stay focused, and in the moment.

The atmosphere. The area that you are usually brought into is a small bare room. The room is uncomfortable and it makes a lot of people uneasy and gives them a feeling of not being in control. There is usually a double sided mirror, video recording, some old chairs, uncomfortable lighting, and a sorry looking table. All this can make people feel uneasy. When you feel uneasy, it gives the other side the advantage.

The numbers. There are usually at least two officers there when the questioning happens. This uneven number can make people feel helpless, especially in a small room. The police do have to give you your Miranda rights. Those are usually given at the beginning when the conversation is still pretty easygoing. Because of the light atmosphere at the beginning, a lot of people sign away their rights. However, once the questioning gets going most regret waiving their rights. The police don’t have to let you know that you can still assert your right to an attorney even after you waive your rights. Remember to ask for an attorney before you speak with them, but even if you sign a waiver, you can still ask for an attorney later on.

The questioning. The police are very good at getting people talking. At the beginning of the questioning, they tend to ask easy questions. This usually gets people use to talking to them. We as a society have a tendency to keep talking once we start talking. The police may also use small amounts of outside information, like we talked to this person or we found this evidence, to encourage you further.

Video tapes and signed confessions. Usually every interviewed is video taped and the police will ask you to sign a written confession. A video taped signed confession can be devastating, and they usually are. Most of the time they are a key piece of the prosecution puzzle. Even if the police have a lot of physical or derivative evidence, they must link the evidence together to point at you. When you have a signed written confession you are helping the police tie the evidence together. You can be even filling in gaps that the police could not solve without more information.

The majority of police officers are nice to talk to and pretty helpful. However, they have a job to do and cases to investigate. A large part of their investigation requires them to question people. Knowing that, it is very important that you stay vigilant and protect yourself at all times. After all, you wouldn’t tell your spouse about the details of the bachelor or bachelorette party, would you? Then again I wouldn’t want to see the thing your spouse may do in response to you invoking your right to remain silent, or to an attorney.


Arrests and Interrogations FAQ
http://articles.directorym.com/Arrests_and_Interrogations_FAQ_Lawrence_MA-r935136-Lawrence_MA.html

Mark A. Godsey: Shining the Bright Light on Police Interrogation in America
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/osjcl/Articles/Volume6_2/Godsey-FinalPDF.pdf

Top ten reasons you don’t need to hire a lawyer for your criminal case

1. You are a huge fan of the world series of poker and decided to gamble with your life.

2. You can’t stop laughing from the drugs that you are on, and decide that it will be a lot more fun representing yourself.

3. Your mom told you were meant to do great things, and you decided to start by trying to win your own case.

4. You thought the words pro se (represent yourself) sounded cool, and decided to choose that option.

5. Your psychic told you this was your year, and you feel invincible.

6. You believe that you are the best liar in the world because your spouse believes everything you say. As a result, you believe the court will also fall prey to your skills.

7. Your shrink told you need to be more independent, and you don’t want to have an attorney get in the way of your shrink’s advice.

8. You have seen every episode of law and order and figured that your case would end in an hour anyway, so you rather not go through the hassle of getting an attorney.

9. You stayed at a Holliday Inn last night and feel very confident.

10. You equate lawyers to crooks. People have called you a crook all of your life, and with your logic, you believe that makes you a lawyer.

In all seriousness, there is no reason to not get an attorney for your criminal case. The court will hold you to the same standards as if you have an attorney representing you. For the most part, not having an attorney is not sufficient grounds for an appeal. Even if you signed a waiver to represent yourself, most judges will allow you to change your mind and hire an attorney. You shouldn’t wait to hire an attorney, but by waiving an attorney early on usually doesn’t mean that you can’t hire one later. So be smart, don’t gamble with your life and make sure you have a lawyer.

At a party, you hear police coming, there are drugs at that place, what do you do?

Throughout your life you probably went to your fair share of parties and you are likely to go to a few more before you hang it up. What if you are at a party, and you know someone is doing drugs or there are drugs in the apartment, and the police show up? There are a lot of police officers everywhere, people screaming, what do you do? Well here are a few things to keep in mind.

Don’t run. This is not an easy thing to do, but think rationally about this for a moment. Most of the time when police do a raid on a house they cover all access points. Therefore, by running away from one police officer, you will inevitably find your self running straight into the arms of another. Besides running doesn’t make you look good. Also let’s face it, if you have been partying and drinking, what are your chances of outrunning the police at this point?

Don’t say much if anything at all. If this is just the police coming into the apartment to break up the party that is one thing, but it could also be a raid. During a raid the police will usually have a search warrant. If the police have a search warrant for that location, they will usually arrest everyone there. You don’t want to say anything that might link you to the place, the targets on the warrant, and obviously the drugs. So don’t say anything, instead tell the officers you don’t want to say anything until you talk to an attorney. Sometimes the strongest piece of evidence the police have is the statements that you give. If you tell the police officers that the drugs in the bedroom aren’t yours it won’t help. You might be thinking you are giving solid defense to the drugs, the police will think that you knew about the drugs in the bedroom. So be quiet.

Call an attorney. If you get arrested and the police want to ask you questions, don’t waive your rights. Tell the police in a nice way that you would like to first talk to an attorney. You never know what the police are thinking. Don’t put yourself in a bad situation because you thought the police were going to let you off easy if you talked.
To recap, don’t run from the scene, don’t say anything at the scene, and don’t answer questions until you talk to an attorney.

Massachusetts Bar Associations talks about search warrants
http://www.massbar.org/about-the-mba/press-room/journalists'-handbook/20-search-warrants-and-subpoenas