What Is The Sequence Of Events In A Criminal Case?

What Should Someone Do If They Are Stopped And Interviewed By The Police?

If the police confront you, you need to identify yourself. If you do not identify yourself, most likely you’re
going to get arrested. Lots of times, especially in sex cases, police will say, “Hey, so and so has accused
you of doing this. Would you like to come in and tell us your side of the story?” Many people go down to
the police station and willingly incriminate themselves. It is always advised not to talk to the police.

Get In Touch With An Attorney

Sometimes, people are uncomfortable. They’ll say, “Well, the police said I had to meet with them,” but the
reality is you don’t. If you hire an attorney, he can write a letter to the policeman saying, “Hi, I represent
Mr. Smith. It’s my understanding that you wanted to talk to him regarding an incident that allegedly took
place. I have advised him not to speak to law enforcement, so he will not. Please do not contact my client
directly. If you’d like to discuss this situation, please contact me. If you decide to charge my client with a
crime, please send the summons to me”.

This lets the police know who is representing you it also tells them that they can’t talk to you. In that case,
the police can send the summons to the attorney who will appear at the client’s initial arraignment, which
is the first court appearance.

The police can either send the summons to a person saying “You’ve been charged with the crime, you
need to come to court on a specific date,” or they can swear out an arrest warrant, which means they will
go out and arrest the person and then there will be a first appearance, usually while the client is in custody.
An attorney wants to make sure this doesn’t happen.

When the attorney contacts the police and writes the above mentioned letter, if a summons is sent out, it
will be sent it to the attorney, who will appear at the first court date, plead not guilty on his client’s behalf,
set a preliminary hearing date or a trial date and get a copy of the discovery; police report’s witness
statements, blood analysis, etc. The attorney will then go over this information with the client and figure
out which way to proceed from there.