If you’ve been arrested, you may be wondering what your next step is going to be. Of course, you’re going to need to go to your hearings, but you’re probably expecting to be found guilty and have a long jail sentence to serve. However, it doesn’t have to end up like that. Instead, you may want to hire a Criminal Lawyer in Chicago to help you. There’s quite a few ways a criminal lawyer can help you so you don’t have to serve the maximum amount of time.
One of the first things a lawyer will do is carefully review your case. He’ll look for anything that is wrong or illegal about your stop, arrest, and the evidence in your case. If he can find anything, he can present it to a judge and ask that the evidence is dismissed. In some cases, this may mean that the prosecution no longer has enough evidence to charge you with the crime. They can either charge you with a reduced crime or they can dismiss the charges altogether.
If there isn’t anything they can find in your case, they’ll try to obtain a not guilty plea. They can do this by arguing a variety of different defenses in court. Each defense is completely dependant on the circumstances in your case. If they can’t obtain a not guilty plea, or you and the lawyer decide to plea guilty, they will then work on obtaining a reduced sentence for you. Typically, the possible sentence the judge can give you has variables they can choose from. Your lawyer will try to ensure your sentence is the smallest one possible and has the smallest impact on your life.
Being arrested doesn’t not mean you’re guilty and you’re going to have to spend many years in jail. In fact, in many cases you can avoid jail altogether by having your charges dropped or getting a reduced sentence of fines and community service instead of jail time. To see how your case can turn out better than what you think is going to happen now, talk to a Criminal Lawyer in Chicago. A lawyer like John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. will take the time to go through your case and let you know exactly how he can help with your case.
