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Queens Arraignment Lawyers
An arraignment is the first appearance for a defendant in front of a judge. If you have an upcoming arraignment, a Queens arraignment lawyer can appear with you and speak on your behalf. How you handle your arraignment is an important first step in defending against the charges you’re facing. Queens arraignment lawyers are available to assist you and ensure that your arraignment proceeds smoothly.
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Queens lawyers for arraignments
It’s important to remember that an arraignment is an important hearing. The state might make critical mistakes when they prepare the charging documents. The mistakes can mean that the charges against you are invalid. Your attorney may help you review the charing paperwork in order to ensure that there are no mistakes.
To mount a proper defense to a criminal charge, it’s important to understand the charges that you’re facing. The judge reads the charges to you at your arraignment. You have a right to hear the charges that your facing. The judge may ask you if you have questions.
What to do at an arraignment in Queens
You may be in custody at your arraignment, or you may be free on bond with bail or on your own recognizance. If you’re in custody at the time of your arraignment, you can expect law enforcement to take you for your arraignment at the appropriate time. An arraignment may occur in person in front of the judge or by video from a jail facility.
If you’re not in custody for your arraignment, it’s important to go to the right place for the arraignment proceeding. The address of the court should be listed on your court paperwork. It’s important to determine where you need to go before your arraignment time. When you get to your arraignment, you may need to check in by telling a court clerk or a bailiff that you’re present and ready for the proceeding.
The judge may conduct many arraignments in a row. They might call your case first. They might call your case last. It’s important to be prepared for a wait.
How to handle an arraignment in Queens
At your arraignment, you may have the opportunity to plead guilty, not guilty or no contest. If you plead no contest, the court often wants a reason for the no contest plea such as being intoxicated an unable to remember the events that prompted the charge or not wanting to make an admission because of potential civil liability. However, a Queens arraignment lawyer may advise you to plead not guilty even if you are unsure that you want to take your case to trial.
If you plead guilty at your arraignment, you lose the opportunity to contest the charges. You lose the chance to negotiate the charges down to a less serious offense. You can’t ask the state’s attorney for a reduction in the charges even if you have a compelling claim. By entering a plea of not guilty, you preserve the right to talk to witnesses, build the evidence in your case and hold a pre-trial conference with the state’s attorney in order to discuss non-trial resolutions. Even if there are not factual defenses to your claim that are viable, the state’s attorney may agree to a reduction in the charges just because of mitigating circumstances or to clear a case from the docket. Pleading not guilty gives you the opportunity to explore all of the avenues to address the charges no matter what you ultimately decide to do in the case.
Working with Queens arraignment lawyers
Another reason to have an experienced Queens arraignment lawyer by your side is to avoid missteps that can make your case harder to defend against. For example, what you say at your arraignment may be used against you later on in the case. Your arraignment is not the time to explain to the judge what happened or why the charges are unfair. You may be able to ask the judge to dismiss the charges later, but for now, only errors in the charging documents or a case of mistaken identity should be brought to the court’s attention. Your experienced Queens arraignment lawyers can help you ensure that you don’t make errors that may jeopardize your claim.
Don’t deal with Queens Arraignment Lawyers alone. Speak to the Spodek Law Group today.
Queens Arraignment Lawyers
An arraignment is one of the most important legal proceedings in the United States. It’s the proceeding that lets a defendant know that they have formally been charged with a crime, and it allows the defendant to respond to the charges with a plea. In effect, it’s the formal communication between a judge and a defendant about a crime that allegedly took place. While it doesn’t necessarily have to resolve a case, it has the power to do so. One of the most important concepts to understand about the arraignment is the plea. It is your plea that will determine what happens next.
How Your Plea Affects The Arraignment
When you first come before the court, you will be read a list of your charges. It may be one or many. The judge will read this statement to you and ask if you understand the charges against you, at which time you will answer the question. There is a whole list of procedures at an arraignment and all of these will be present during yours as well.
The course of the arraignment depends on your response to the court after they’ve read you your charges. Queens arraignment lawyers help you navigate the complexities of a Queens court arrangement. Chances are that your lawyer will be able to calm you and help you understand each step of the arraignment and they will help you make the right decision about a very important part of the arraignment: Your plea.
After the court reads the charges against you, you enter your plea. This will determine what happens after the arraignment. If you plead guilty, you are now in the hands of the judge. He or she determines your fate and you give up any right to pursue a trial after that or change your plea to not guilty. If you plead not guilty, then the judge will respond to that. In action, the arraignment is a conversation between a defendant and the court of law that is charging them with a crime.
Why You Need A Lawyer
This might all sound very simple but the things you say and do during your arraignment will affect you for perhaps the rest of your life. If you plead guilty to a felony charge, you are now a felon, and that has drastic consequences in real life and for the rest of your life. Pleading guilty before you obtain the advice of a lawyer is almost always a terrible mistake. Without the advice of the lawyer, you don’t have the leverage to get a good plea bargain, plead not guilty in a case where you might be found innocent, or any other power that the courts have given defendants during an arraignment.
The lawyer is there to investigate your case and guide you to the best possible outcome during your arraignment. They not only help you plead not guilty in a right situation, but they will negotiate the terms of your release, if it’s possible. Without a good lawyer by your side you are quite literally on your own and since you’re not a lawyer, there’s a good chance that your plea will be misguided and possibly lead to negative consequences for you. Before you head to your arraignment, talk to a lawyer.
There are many Queens arraignment lawyers who will listen to the facts of your case and make sure that you don’t make a mistake during your arraignment. While your plea is ultimately up to you, a good lawyer is going to be able to give you the best advice and best outcome.