Do you need to pay for an attorney before accepting a plea bargain?

Being charged with a crime can be a terrifying, stressful, and confusing experience. Things can move fast and get complicated quickly. Under this kind of stress, it can be tempting to get the process over with by accepting the first plea offer made to you by the prosecutor, especially if it does not require any jail time upfront. However, prosecutors are not your friends. Their goal is to convict as many people as possible. Criminal convictions have many future consequences beyond the sentence. Convictions can an affect your ability to get a job, a student loan, or an apartment.

Before accepting a plea agreement, you need to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney. Though you may have some familiarity with the criminal process from your own experience or that of your friends or family, Steven Knecht has handled thousands of cases and has a better feel for possible outcomes from that experience. We can review the evidence against you and determine if there may be ways to challenge the charges against you. If the prosecution realizes its case may not be very strong, they may be willing to make a better plea bargain to avoid the possibility of losing. The prosecutor may also offer a better deal simply because they see that you have an experienced attorney prepared to fight for your rights.

Plea bargains that we have obtained this year include the reduction of a Level I Child Molestation charge to a Level 3 Child Molestation because we were prepared to go to trial with a sexsomnia defense; a felony burglary arrest reduced to a misdemeanor criminal mischief; felony battery and drug cases reduced to misdemeanors; and diversion agreements avoiding convictions in felony and misdemeanor cases including marijuana cases. Whether or not a better plea bargain from the prosecutor could be possibly obtained in your case ultimately comes down to the facts specific to your case as well as your ability to fund a strong defense. Hiring an attorney as soon as possible also frequently assist in obtaining a better result.

Being involved in any criminal prosecution is a serious situation. You need to make smart decisions for the present and future. That is why it is critical that you hire an experience criminal defense attorney that has your best interest at heart and who can advise you as to whether you should take that plea bargain or not. With over 30 years of experience, Steven Knecht is familiar with the possible defenses to operating while intoxicated and other criminal charges. If you find yourself having been arrested, you should immediately hire an experienced criminal defense lawyer such as Steven Knecht to help you fight the State.