That’s because these cases are generally handled in a special courtroom, where special practices are used. In addition, because Domestic Violence cases involve special pre-trial release rules, you may be held in custody for an entire weekend or more before you are released.

In addition, it’s important that at the time you appear at your First Appearance hearing you have an attorney present. That’s because you want to make sure you are released on as few conditions as possible. And, if there are children involved, you want to make sure that any “no contact” orders allow you to remain involved with your children.

In addition, there may be other aspects to your case – including a divorce, pending divorce, property disputes, or a civil 50B protective order – that you need to have handled. By hiring a lawyer who can look out for all your interest, you can ensure that your case is properly handled with as few problems as possible.

Finally, if you are a man and accused of striking a woman, you will be charged with an Assault on a Female. An assault on a female conviction means that you may never possess a gun or ammunition again in your life. If you hunt, this will have life-changing implications for you.

Make sure that you consult with a Raleigh lawyer about these very serious charges.

I recently observed a case where the alleged crime had been committed in 1992, and in that case the defendant was sentenced under the old North Carolina sentencing system.

But for all felonies or misdemeanors alleged to have been committed after December 1, 1995, North Carolina’s Structured Sentencing system applies.  Structured sentencing applies state wide, whether you’re in Cary, Apex, Raleigh, Fuquay Varina, or Asheville: the same rules apply.  Federal crimes are handled by the federal courts under a different (and much more complicated) structured sentencing system.

But most criminal cases are state cases, so let’s talk a little about how North Carolina’s Structured Sentencing system works.

First, crimes are divided into “classes.” Felonies start at Class A (First Degree Murder) which is punishable by life or death and go all the way down to Class I (the least serious, including many minor drug or theft offenses.)  There are two Class B offenses – B1 and B2 that each are treated differently.  Misdemeanors are handled separately, from Class A1 (the most serious, including Assault on a Female) to Class 3 (the least serious, including simple marijuana possession).

Second, individual defendants are assigned to levels.  A Level 1 is someone who has no Class A1 or higher convictions.  A Level 2 is someone who has at least 1 conviction point.  And a Level 6 is someone who has 19 or more prior sentencing points.  Level 6 is the highest, or worst.

Third, each class/level box has three ranges: mitigated, presumptive, or aggravated.  Presumptive is where everyone starts.  If there are mitigating factors – either statutory or common law – the judge may sentence in the mitigated range, which is better.  If there are aggravating factors, the judge may sentence in the aggravated range, which is worse.  If the judge doesn’t find aggravating or mitigating factors to sentence in either of those two ranges, then the presumptive range is used.  Most defendants are sentenced within the presumptive range.   Note that there is also a way for the judge to deviate from the structured sentencing scheme if he finds “extraordinary mitigation”.  This rarely occurs, and usually it is done because the prosecutor agrees that there should be deviation.

Third, this is a truth-in-sentencing system.  If convicted – either by plea or after a trial – the defendant will serve at least the bottom of the sentencing range, and as much as the top of the range.  What happens is that the defendant goes into the DOC and can work off the good time, by cooperating, not getting into fights in prison, being a model prisoner, so that the DOC will grant good time. Over time the good time adds up so that the defendant moves down to the lowest end of the range.

North Carolina has done away with parole.  Life means life.  And and active sentence of 12 to 18 months mean the defendant will serve at least 12 months.

Even if the state’s case is strong, there’s a lot a Apex, Cary, or Raleigh criminal lawyer can do within the structured sentencing scheme to get a lesser sentence.  The criminal lawyer can put together strong evidence that, in spite of the crime, the defendant has been otherwise a good citizen, with a family to support, good contributions to the community, perhaps church involvement, and other kinds of factors relating to the crime that mean the defendant should be given “the bottom end of the mitigated.”

Or, in exceptional circumstances, the Apex, Raleigh or Cary criminal lawyer may be able to argue “extraordinary mitigation.”  This is rare, but possible and depends on putting on strong evidence at a sentencing hearing.

Call (919) 352-9411 to talk to an Apex, Raleigh or Cary criminal lawyer weekdays, evenings, weekends or Holidays who can give some advice as to how sentencing might work in your case.

Police and investigators also know about these services, and they also know that lots of people under investigation may use Facebook, Twitter, MySpace – not just celebrities!

But there are problems with such services if you are facing a DUI, drug, misdemeanor, or felony charge.

I’ve seen instances of police investigators or detectives in Raleigh, Cary or Apex searching and printing out MySpace pages or Facebook pages where there may be evidence of “gang activity” (pictures of people flashing gang signs or referring to gangs), “drug activity” (admissions or pictures of people using drugs), or other sorts of activity that might suggest guilt. In many cases, these MySpace pages just show people having a good time, but, coupled with other evidence, they may suggest guilty or criminal conduct if ever presented to a jury.

This isn’t to mean you should be paranoid.  Police don’t regularly check Facebook or MySpace or other pages like that for criminality.  But if they’re investigating a crime, and think you may be involved or know who is involved, they may check to see if you have a MySpace or Facebook page.

Where can this evidence be most damaging?  Well, let me give you one example.  Let’s imagine you’ve been stopped for a DUI.  And let’s imagine your Facebook, MySpace or Twitter page have comments you made earlier in the night that you were going out to “party” or “drink” or “get wasted”.  Let’s imagine the police really want to nail you.  It’s very easy to do a search, find if you have such a page, find out if you’ve made comments that are incriminating, and use those to suggest to a jury that you were planning to get drunk, and took no precautions when you drove your car.

Even if your Facebook or MySpace page is “private” it may not be completely private.  And even if it is private, the police could subpoena records from Facebook or MySpace of your “private” pages.  So simply making these pages “private” is not a solution.

My advice is obviously be smart about what you write on your Facebook pages, and what kind of pictures you post.  You don’t want to end up like Michael Phelps, where pictures of smoking a bong are used to prove criminal activity. And you don’t want to end up like The Hills star Stephanie Pratt who got stopped for a DUI and whose Twitter page listed her statement earlier that night that she was going out to party.

If you think you may be accused of a crime, or you’ve been stopped for a DUI in Raleigh or Cary or Apex, and you want to talk about how to handle Facebook, MySpace or Twitter social networking sites, give me a call at (919) 352-9411.

Now, it’s true, some cases are very complex, and if you’re charged with murder, it’s going to cost you a chunk of change in order to hire a criminal lawyer, not to mention all of the experts you would need.  But, in truth, many criminal defendants in murder cases, especially the ones facing capital charges (the death penalty), have public defenders.  That’s because the costs of defending those charges would bankrupt a lot of middle class people.

But the truth of the matter is that criminal representation is very affordable, especially if it’s a non-murder case.  In addition, you can hire a criminal attorney to work on part of your case, and if you don’t have the money to hire him to defend you all the way until trial, you can apply to have a public defender appointed to your case.  Public Defenders in Wake County are excellent.

But even if you expect to have a public defender, you should absolutely spend the $2,000 to $4,000 it costs to hire someone like me to represent you before your arrest, and at your early hearings.

That’s because there several points early in the process – your First Appearance Hearing, for instance – where having a criminal lawyer represent you can make a huge difference in the outcome.

For instance, the criminal lawyer can make the argument that you are not a flight risk or a danger to the community, and that you ought to be let out on a small bond.

That’s crucially important, so that you can continue to live with your family, go to work, live a normal life, and help in your defense.

Yes, criminal lawyers aren’t cheap.  But neither are they outrageously expensive.  And they are well worth the money.

So call today at (919) 352-9411.  I charge flat fees for all my services; you know what you’re getting up front, before you pay.  And I have payment plans so that even if you can’t write me a check on day one, I may be able to work with you to arrange payment in installments.

Most importantly, I can help keep you out of jail, and can help prepare you for the stress and anxiety of a criminal trial.

I think he was a bit skeptical, having dealt with other attorneys who had pushed pleas on him, and recommended he “take a plea.”

But I had no trouble answering the question: I don’t care if the case is felony Robbery with a Deadly Weapon, a DUI, or Possession of a Controlled Substance With Intent to Sell or Deliver.  I did not go to law school and become an attorney to plea stuff out.

I went to law school to get 12 fine citizens in a box, to ask them whether they could decide a case fairly, and to fight for my client’s rights.  Now, 95 percent of a lawyer’s cases do not end up at trial.  That’s because there are a lot of factors.  And I will always recommend a plea if I honestly think that it’s in my client’s best interest.

But my job is not to push pleas on clients.  My job is not to serve as a messenger from the district attorney for the latest plea offer.  And if it’s obviously a bad plea – if it’s a demand that the client plea to the charge – then I will advise the client to go to trial.

In the end, it’s always the client’s choice.  It’s always the client’s decision, because it’s the client’s life.  And where the facts aren’t so good, and the law isn’t so good, and the client would be harmed by rejecting a plea, I will tell the client that he should take the plea.

But if I think it’s a lousy plea, or if I think that the client would be better served by going to trial because I think the DA’s case is weak, I will say that too.

At the end of the day, you want a lawyer who is not afraid to recommend a good plea, and not afraid to go to trial to fight for your rights.  Call (919) 352-9411 to find out how I can be of service to you.

These are the ways that a criminal lawyer can protect you. And it really is not very expensive, when you consider what’s at stake.  For $2,000 to $4,000 you will protect your rights, protect your family, and stand a better chance of spending the time before your case’s conclusion out of jail.

Call any time – weekdays or weekends – at (919) 352-9411 for advice.

The answer is general no.

I don’t care whether you were in Timbuktu when the crime happened. You have no obligation to talk to police without a criminal lawyer present.  And there is no way that you should talk to police without a lawyer present.

You should never lie to police.  In fact, lying to FBI agents is a federal crime, and giving a fake name to a police officer in North Carolina is a misdemeanor.

But you should not talk to police unless you are reporting a crime.  If you’re under investigation, don’t talk to police.

Now, you may be asking: I’ve got nothing to hide. Why shouldn’t I talk to the police?  The answer is that the police don’t know you didn’t do the crime.  They’re looking for suspects. And one way the look for suspects is to question people repeatedly until they rule them out.

One of the ways they trap people is by having them answer questions over and over again, and pointing out discrepancies in the stories.  Because no one tells a story the same way every time, police are trained at picking out differences between the first time you told a story and the second time you told the story.  And when they ask you a third time… well they’re just trying to see whether you tell it a different way.

Even if you’re innocent as the sky is blue, you should always talk to police with your lawyer present. And that’s because usually police don’t have a video, they don’t have blood samples, they don’t have DNA, and so they’re looking for inconsistencies in stories to show to a jury that you were lying, or untruthful.

And if you did do the crime.  If you happen to be the actual perpetrator.  Well then you definitely don’t want to talk to police.  You want to keep your mouth shut.

Most of all: you want to get a criminal lawyer.  You want to call (919) 352-9411.

Police are not interested in finding the innocent, they’re interested in finding the guilty, and they’re interested in having a jury sort it out.  And you don’t want to be the guy sitting in the defendant’s chair as 12 citizens in a box decide whether you’re guilty or not.