PERSONAL INJURY 
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     This office typically represents people that might be involved in personal injury cases arising from automobile accidents. All cases will involve some assessment of liability and damage. Liability is a determination of who is at fault with the accident. Damage is a determination or an assessment of the amount of compensation. If you are involved in an auto accident, your injuries may not appear for a period of time. It is important that you contact your health care provider shortly after the accident, if possible, and establish whatever continuing care is necessary. Some insurance companies will contact you and request that you accept a settlement fairly soon. Contact this office as soon as that happens. Do not sign a release. The full extent of your injuries may not be known shortly after the accident. It is always best to contact an attorney. If you have any questions, give this office a call and Robin and I will be happy to discuss the case with you.

CRIMINAL CASES

You can be charged with a criminal offense in a number of different ways. For most people this involves some form of a ticket or citation that is issued by a police officer. I will give a brief description of each. 

NOTICE OF INFRACTION

     This is the green ticket. A notice of infraction is no longer a criminal offense, the legislature decriminalized these forms of offenses a number of years ago. However, these offenses can have an impact upon you. For instance, a notice of infraction for the offense of no liability insurance may involve a fine of almost $500.00. In addition, if you receive a number of these green citations, three or four within a year or two year period, your license may be put on probationary status by the Department of Licensing. If you want a hearing regarding this ticket, you will have to request a hearing with the court. You should review the back of the citation and check off the boxes that is appropriate for a contested hearing. Be sure to return that citation to court within the days specified on that citation. The kind of hearing that is available has also changed over the years. A police officer will not be present unless you request that he/she be there. Basically, the court will review the information contained with the officer's "sworn" report and then listen to you. If the court feels that the information within the sworn report is persuasive by a "preponderance of evidence", then the judge will find that you have committed the violation. Individually these tickets may not impact you. However, if you receive a number of them, it may result in restrictions by the Department of Licensing as well as increased insurance rates. In other words, these tickets may be important enough for you to contact an attorney, give me a call.

CITATIONS 

     These are the yellow tickets. With the green tickets, if you decide not to "contest or mitigate" the tickets, you may pay the fine. With a yellow ticket, you must appear in court. Your first court appearance is normally an arraignment. That is the court hearing that you must indicate to the court whether your plea is guilty or not guilty and whether you decide to have the matter tried by a judge or a jury. But note: if you waive a jury trial, you may not get it back. If you request a jury trial it doesn't mean that you have to do it, but you will have that option available while the charge is pending. So, you should request the jury trial. Obviously, you should plead not guilty at the time of arraignment to allow sufficient time to explore the issues in your case. The yellow tickets involve charges in District or Municipal Courts. They involve a number of different kinds of crimes. All of them "misdemeanor" or "gross misdemeanor" cases. Misdemeanors are cases which have a maximum penalty of $500.00 fine and ninety days in jail. Gross Misdemeanors have a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a fine of $5,000.00. Either way, jail is a possibility, so give this office a call.

DUI

     One of the tickets that is frequently charged on a yellow ticket is a "driving while under the influence". The DUI charge has changed significantly over the past few years. In 1994 there were major changes to the statute, some in 1995 and I expect major changes to occur in 1998. You should take a DUI citation very seriously. Under the current law, a first offense with breath test of less than .15 will result in one day of mandatory jail, a fine of $350.00 plus costs (around $700.00) and a loss of license for ninety days. A first offense with a breath test over .15 will result in mandatory jail of two days, fine of $500.00 (plus costs) and loss of license for one hundred and twenty days, or one year if citation is after January 1, 1998. Then, the penalties get worse, as well as the drivers' license suspensions. For instance, if you have two or more prior offenses within five years and your breath test is less than .15, you should count on jail of not less than ninety days, a fine of not less than $1,000.00 and you will loose your license for two years if the offense was committed in 1997, three years if committed in 1998. In 1998 I expect the breath test threshold requirement to drop to .08. I also expect that provisions will be enacted allowing for permanent of license, temporary impoundment of your vehicle for up to fifteen days and or forfeiture or loss of your vehicle. The ignition interlocks may also become mandatory, although I can't be sure until the legislation has been passed. Call this office.

ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

     In addition to the criminal charge of DUI, there are two administrative hearings that may result from this citation. If you refuse the breath test your license may be revoked for up to one year (currently). If you provide a breath test sample in excess of .10, your license may be placed on probationary license first time or revoked for two years second time within a five year period. There is a hearing procedure allowed, but you must ask for that hearing within thirty days and send a check to the Department of Licensing for $100.00. If you don't request the hearing, you won't get it and your license will be on probationary status or revoked. So, don't wait too long, get in touch with the office as soon as you can.

SUPERIOR COURT

     Charges in Superior Court are all called "informations". There are a number of criminal charges in Superior Court, too many to detail here. The cases generally involve Class A , Class B, and Class C felonies. Basically, a Class A felony may involve a sentence of twenty years to life imprisonment. Class B a maximum sentence of ten years and a Class C is a five year maximum sentence. During the early 1980s, the legislature enacted the "Sentencing Reform Act" which provides for "determinate sentencing" in Superior Court. In other words, the sentence you receive will be determined by weighting the number or prior offenses, the type of prior offenses, as well as a weighted factor for the current offense for which you may be convicted. This will give the court a standard range in which to sentence. The court may deviate and impose a more severe sentence given aggravating factors or a less serious sentence if there are mitigating factors. A review of the appellate cases would indicate that there are far more aggravating factors than mitigating factors, currently. These are serious cases. You had better get in touch with your attorney immediately, or call this office.

MIRANDA WARNINGS

     Before I leave, for now, I had better say something about Miranda Warnings. You must keep in mind that police officers have the duty to investigate the commission of crimes, it is their job. They take their job very seriously and most police officers are very good at it. When they talk to you, if you are the target of an investigation, they are not there to make friends with you. They are there to get information which they will use to convict you. Again, they are good at that. So, you need somebody on your side. You should call an attorney immediately upon contact from a law enforcement officer if you are being investigated for the commission of a crime. Don't wait for the officer to advise you of your "Miranda Warnings". In other words, don't wait for the officer to tell you that you have the right to remain silent or that you have the right to presence of an attorney. If the officer advises you of those warnings, invoke them. Tell him you want to talk it over with your attorney and that you wish to remain silent. Even if the officer hasn't advised you yet, call your attorney, or call this office. It is not unusual for a defense attorney to become active as a legal representative for a person suspected of the commission of a crime. It is much better to have your attorney contact the officer to determine the nature of the investigation, than for you to do it yourself. That is because anything you say to the officer during the course of this casual conversation could be used against you. Let your attorney do the talking. Call this office. Any of the above cases can be relatively straight forward and resolved relatively easy, or they can be complicated and involve considerably more analysis. In the beginning, it is hard to tell. But, above all, a professional should look at your case and advise you of the available options. Give us a call.