A police report may condense an entire day to the size of a few pages. The charges could be as simple as a sentence.
It’s not often that you find a life that is so clean and tidy.
Perhaps dinner started at seven. A fight broke out around nine. A person left the home at ten, returned later, and a neighbor called the police shortly before midnight. A driver may be out with his friends, then returned to his vehicle, been stopped several miles away, administered an initial breathalyzer test, and arrested. The next morning, all that activity may have been turned into a criminal charge.
For criminal defense lawyers in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one useful task is putting the sequence back together.
Start Earlier Than the Arrest
The majority of people will recall the dramatic incident flashing lights, police at the door or handcuffs. In order to understand the incident, it is necessary digging deeper.
Michigan law considers the relationship between two individuals when deciding whether to prosecute an incident of domestic violence. The information that the company provides identifies people such as spouses, former partners, parents of children who share a home as well as dating partners who have previously or recently lived with each other.
It is also essential to look at the circumstances that led up to the police intervention. Did there exist a conflict? Was anyone present? When did the conversation begin? Did anyone leave and come back? There were any conversations before or afterward?
These questions are not designed to fabricate a false story. They aid defense attorneys in the field of domestic violence who are located in Grand Rapids, Michigan understand the allegations in their actual sequence, instead of treating the moment when police arrived as the beginning of everything.
The precise charge can also be a factor. Michigan is a distinct state when it comes to domestic violence offenses. The firm’s documentation also mention that prior convictions may influence the severity of any subsequent charge.
The OWI Stop has its own timeline
The sequence of events in an investigation into drunk driving can be much shorter, but it is still important. The driving itself as well as the motive of the officer engaging in contact, any observations made following the arrest, roadside procedure including statements, testing and finally, the arrest. If you consider all of this as a single incident, it can be difficult to distinguish between the various purposes of each part of the incident.
Michigan’s MCL 257.625 which is also referred to as Operating while intoxicated (OWI) describes the offense. The firm’s documents state that it is noted that a breath test preliminarily (commonly called PBT) PBT) is a screening device and not admissible as proof of intoxication at trial. It can be utilized to establish probable motive.
This is the reason the drunk driving attorneys in Grand Rapids Michigan reconstruct the stop instead of focusing solely on the number the driver remembered from the roadside.
The Timeline can be found on certain phones.
It is not necessary for police to observe a crime before they start an investigation.
Sexual offenses that are suspected to have may be related to incidents that occurred earlier in life like a prior relationship, a family member or even the work environment. According to the description provided from the company, a person can be notified of an investigation prior to being taken into custody.
In this scenario the chronology may be spread across several sources. Messages may reveal when individuals communicated. Digital records can aid in explaining a sequence of events. The same time period could be described differently by different people who were involved.
This doesn’t mean that a text message is a guarantee that will prove or disprove a claim. It’s because criminal sexual assault defense attorneys in Grand Rapids, Michigan may be required to know how communications and statements, credibility concerns, and other available information all fit together.
Memory and documentation aren’t the same thing.
After a stressful interaction, people tend to recall moments and not timestamps. The phrase “It was later in the evening” is quite acceptable in casual conversations however it may not be enough to answer a vital legal question.
Documents can help you organize your thoughts. Records that exist, such as messages, call logs photos, receipts, court papers and court papers, could aid in establishing a chronology. What’s relevant depends on the specific situation.
Importantly, all records must be maintained rather than altered in order to make the circumstance appear more appealing. A defense lawyer can identify what information could be significant and figure out how to deal with the situation.
The Case Number isn’t Enough to Cover the entire evening
Shawn Haff has been practicing criminal law in Grand Rapids for more than 16 year, while the Criminal Defense Law Center of West Michigan has dealt with more than 1,500 criminal cases in an average of 25+ years of practicing. The firm’s experience includes OWI and domestic violence assault, drug charges and sexual crimes, weapons, criminal fraud at the point of sale, driver’s licence restoration and expungements.
Past results including dismissals, reductions, acquittals or favorable pleas – cannot guarantee the outcome of a case in the future.
Every new subject is unique and has its own characters in it, their sequence, claims, and proof. That’s the whole point.
An arrest can happen in minutes. It is feasible to write the label of a charge in only the smallest of words. To fully comprehend the events that lead up to it, it’s generally necessary to take a step back the pace of the night and consider what really transpired.