Centro Legal / Guía 01 — Contratar un abogado: ¿ahora o después?
Las decisiones tomadas antes de que se presenten cargos formales pueden determinar lo que ocurra después. Grace Casagrande explica por qué la orientación legal temprana puede ser importante, y qué considerar mientras el proceso aún se está desarrollando.
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Respuesta breve
Si las fuerzas del orden lo han contactado, usted cree que puede estar bajo investigación, o un incidente podría derivar en cargos penales, puede ser prudente hablar con un abogado de defensa criminal antes de esperar una presentación formal. Involucrarse desde el principio puede brindar tiempo para preservar información, comprender los plazos aplicables, gestionar las comunicaciones y comenzar a evaluar lo que podría suceder después.
Esperar a que se presenten cargos formales antes de buscar orientación legal puede permitir que eventos importantes ocurran sin el beneficio de una estrategia de defensa. Dependiendo de las circunstancias, la evidencia puede cambiar, se pueden recopilar declaraciones y las obligaciones procesales pueden estar aproximándose.
Las grabaciones de vigilancia pueden sobrescribirse, la evidencia física puede cambiar, la información digital puede perderse, los testigos pueden ser más difíciles de localizar y los recuerdos pueden desvanecerse. Comenzar temprano puede brindar más tiempo para identificar y preservar información que después podría ser relevante.
Hablar con las fuerzas del orden sin obtener primero asesoría legal puede brindarles a los investigadores o al Estado información adicional. Incluso una conversación informal puede más tarde formar parte de una investigación o de un caso penal.
Los plazos legales y procesales pueden comenzar poco después de un incidente, arresto, citación, notificación o presentación judicial. Esperar puede dificultar identificar cada obligación y prepararse antes de una fecha importante.
Enfrentar una investigación o un proceso penal en soledad puede ser confuso y emocionalmente agotador. La incertidumbre también puede llevar a las personas a tomar decisiones apresuradas o a hablar de su situación con personas que no pueden proteger la conversación.
Antes
Muchas personas creen que deben esperar a que aparezcan cargos formales antes de contactar a un abogado. Sin embargo, el período previo a que el Estado tome una decisión de presentación de cargos puede ser significativo.
Dependiendo de los hechos y la etapa del asunto, el abogado puede comunicarse con las fuerzas del orden o los fiscales, identificar y preservar información relevante, explicar la posición del cliente y presentar contexto antes de que se finalice una decisión de presentación de cargos.
Ningún abogado puede controlar la decisión de presentación de cargos de un fiscal ni garantizar que no se presentarán cargos. El valor de la representación temprana depende de las circunstancias de cada caso en particular.
Después
Once a charging decision is made, the conversation changes.
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Involucrarse desde el principio puede brindar más tiempo para comprender las acusaciones, identificar información relevante y comenzar a desarrollar una respuesta basada en las circunstancias reales.
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Dependiendo del asunto, el abogado puede comunicarse con los investigadores o fiscales antes de que las posiciones se vuelvan fijas. Si eso es apropiado depende de los hechos y de la etapa procesal.
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La orientación legal puede ayudar a reemplazar preguntas sin respuesta del tipo “qué pasaría si” con una comprensión más clara del proceso, los posibles próximos pasos y la información que un abogado podría necesitar.
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Anote fechas, horas, lugares, nombres y testigos relevantes mientras la información está fresca. Preserve mensajes, fotografías, documentos y video que puedan relacionarse con la situación. No altere, destruya ni fabrique evidencia.
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No publique sobre el asunto en las redes sociales. Recuerde que las llamadas desde la cárcel generalmente son grabadas. Evite hablar de las acusaciones con personas que no puedan proteger la conversación, y considere obtener asesoría legal antes de brindar una declaración a las fuerzas del orden.
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Si enfrenta una investigación, posibles cargos o una próxima fecha de audiencia, contacte a Casagrande Law para hablar sobre sus circunstancias en privado.
Lea mientras escucha
Hi, attorney Grace Casagrande here with Casagrande Law. I'm here to discuss the issue today of whether you should hire a lawyer early on in the case.
So let's say you have a potential investigation, or let's say you've been arrested but they haven't filed formal charges against you. People often ask if they need a lawyer at that point, or if they should just wait and see how things pan out.
Basically, I'm here today to tell you why that can be a really bad idea, and there's a lot of risks involved in waiting to hire a lawyer rather than being proactive and doing so early on.
So, some of the risks that are involved in not having a lawyer early on. Number one can be the loss of potential evidence.
So with a criminal case, there may be, let's say for example, video evidence or witnesses — things that can be lost if we wait.
For example, you may have a theft case that has surveillance, and let's say that surveillance video is really good for us and it shows that you did not commit the crime.
If that is a location that only holds that video surveillance for 30 days, and you hire a lawyer on day 32, we can run into some significant issues in being able to get that video, and could lose valuable evidence that would be beneficial to our defense.
So really important to get that early on and have your lawyer — we can send out a preservation of evidence letter, have that evidence preserved, to make sure that we have that once we get into the nitty-gritty later on in a criminal case.
Number two, what comes up a lot is contact with law enforcement. So generally, not a good idea to have contact with law enforcement without an attorney present.
So if we have a lawyer, we can advise you on that. We can advise you on not commenting on the case to law enforcement, to avoid those potential admissions being made, or any type of statement that could be made that could be used against you later in a criminal case.
If you're going at it alone, you may not know how to handle that type of situation.
Three, there's just general missed deadlines and court dates that can happen without a lawyer there.
We are there to help you every step of the way — to send you those court dates, those updates, make sure you know what is going on.
And generally, lastly, it just helps with your stress levels. This is a really hard, difficult area to be dealing in. The criminal legal system is not easy.
And having that support, having someone there for you who can tell you “I am here for you, I am fighting for you,” is so important in a criminal case.
People often ask, “I don't have formal charges yet.” So I've been arrested, but let's say the state attorney's office hasn't filed what's called a formal information, which can be required in certain cases for them to formally charge you with a crime.
And you say, “Hey, I'm just going to wait. I'm going to see how things go, how they pan out.” Bad idea.
What you can do with a lawyer: we can reach out to the state attorney's office. We can negotiate with them prior to the case even being filed on. And by negotiate, I mean we can advocate for charges to not be filed in the first place.
We can reach out and say, “Hey, the evidence isn't met in this case,” or send character letters and information to provide support for our position that they should not file formal charges.
And we can get ahead of the game way early and save ourselves all that time and stress by being proactive.
General benefits, like I've said, of having a lawyer early on is just your stress, mental health. We are there for you. We are going to handle your case. You know that someone has your back.
We can be strategic in our defense. We can get there early on. We can make sure your rights are protected. We can negotiate early on, before, let's say, the state's positions may have hardened on the case. So really being proactive is what's going to help you when you are facing criminal charges.
Some steps you could take today, or early on in a case, when you're saying, “I haven't been in this, this is new terrain for me — how do I handle this?”
Number one is to document everything. So if you have potential witnesses, make sure we have those names, any videos, photos, anything that could help us — make sure that all of that is preserved.
A timeline can be very beneficial to provide to your lawyer. So those types of things, doing early on, can really help your case.
Number two: do not discuss your case with anyone. Even your friends, your family, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband — do not discuss the nitty-gritty, the facts of the case, with those people.
Even though they may be people that you trust, those conversations are not confidential. They're not privileged, and they could be admissible in court. So do not talk about the facts of the case.
Importantly, and what many people don't realize, is when you are in the jail, all of those calls are recorded.
So if you are arrested, please make sure you are not communicating about your case with others, because that's going to be sent directly to the state attorney's office, and they are going to use that information potentially against you as evidence in your criminal case.
Lastly, contact a lawyer. Get in touch with someone that's going to fight for you. You can contact Casagrande Law today. We are here.
I am ready to help you on your criminal case, to provide that support and that advocacy that you need, so we can handle this case head on and early on in the criminal process.
You can contact Casagrande Law at 407-502-0607. Thank you.
La información proporcionada en este video y guía tiene fines meramente informativos y no constituye asesoría legal. Acceder a este material no crea una relación abogado-cliente entre usted y Casagrande Law. Cada caso es único, y debe consultar con un abogado calificado con licencia en su jurisdicción respecto de su situación legal específica.
La próxima decisión
Si enfrenta una investigación, posibles cargos penales o una próxima fecha de audiencia, hable en privado con Casagrande Law sobre las circunstancias de su situación.
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