Information to Share With DC Drug Attorneys
Drug cases are complex and the success of a case often depends on the strength an individual has with their attorney, and on the information they are willing to share with them. Whether you have a lot of information to share with DC drug attorneys, or you only have a little bit of information to share, it is all valuable. No fact is too small or insignificant when building a defense. A detail that might seem inconsequential at first, could have a major impact on your case. Speak with a qualified drug attorney that could use the information that you share with them to build a solid defense for you.
Interactions with Law Enforcement
When someone facing drug charges has an initial conversation with their attorney, one of the first things the attorney needs to know is the circumstances surrounding the arrest, and what kind of interaction the person had with law enforcement. Some of the information to share with DC drug attorneys includes whether the subject was driving and the subject of a traffic stop by police. The attorney might ask if the individual was at home when the search was conducted and whether law enforcement had a warrant or not. A person’s drug attorney might also ask questions about what kind of questions the individual was asked and whether the person answered those questions or not.
Circumstances of Arrest
The attorney needs to know the circumstances of the person’s arrest from their perspective (their best recollection of what happened). This includes information like how they were arrested, what they saw, and what they heard. Anything the individual can remember could be potentially useful when building their case. Knowing full well that sometimes people do not remember everything at first, a lawyer will frequently have follow-up conversations with the person to get more information if they obtain new evidence or learn new information from other witnesses that they might need to address with the person.
The attorney might also seek potential witnesses, surveillance footage, and other bits of evidence, in order to collect more information and create a more comprehensive account of what happened. In doing so, they might find information that corroborates the person’s account of events or at least challenges the prosecution’s account of what happened.
Importance of Background Information
Aside from the facts about the case itself, important information to share with DC drug attorneys includes facts about the individual’s background. This includes things like a person’s:
- Background
- Job history
- Family history
- School history
- Whether they went to college or not
- Whether they played sports or not
- Whether they served in the military or not
Mitigating Drug Penalties
If a defense attorney is trying to mitigate the penalties that a person faces, they need to be able to tell a judge about who the person is. By presenting the individual as someone with ambitions, career goals, or a devotion to their family and/or community, the attorney can show that an individual is more than just their alleged offense. Most importantly in a drug-related charge, the attorney needs to have an understanding of any criminal history the person may have. It is very helpful to know if the person has ever been arrested or has prior convictions in the past either in D.C. or other states. This information can help the attorney advise the person on what their penalty might be and what a prosecutor might look to so that they have an honest understanding of the case.
Advice a DC Drug Attorney Can Offer
If a person is facing any kind of drug-related offense, whether it is a misdemeanor charge or a higher level felony charge, the first and most important thing to do is talk to a lawyer. Not just for the purpose of figuring out who to hire but for the purpose of determining what they should do and what they should not do while their case is pending.
People often try to talk to witnesses on their own or try to talk to the police about their case. These endeavors are not very advisable decisions and a person should speak to a lawyer first before doing anything, because their efforts could make the difference between starting off in a good position and potentially facing additional charges, like obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, or tampering with witnesses. A person does not want to put themselves in that position.
A lawyer with a background in D.C. drug charges can help them understand what their next step should be, what they can do to start their case off on the right foot, and most important, what they should not do while their case is pending so they do not do anything that could potentially make the situation worse. If you want to know more about what information to share with DC drug attorneys and how an attorney could use that information to build your case, speak with a skilled drug lawyer today.