I've been arrested. What are my rights?
If you have been charged with a crime in Oregon you have a number of very important rights. How and when you exercise these rights can have serious ramifications in your case and ultimately on the result you are able to achieve. Specific charges and specific facts may also give rise to other rights which you may be able to enforce to your benefit during your case. Only by retaining an experienced criminal defense attorney can you be sure that your rights are protected. As the individual charged you must make the choice whether to take your case to trial or to negotiate a pre-trial offer with the District Attorney's office. Conviction of even seemingly minor offenses can have serious and protracted consequences for you and for your family.
An attorney is for most of the duration of your case really an advisor. This is your case and your life. You decide whether you are going to trial or negotiating a deal with the government. What follows is only a brief list of some of the critical rights which need to be discussed with a qualified criminal defense attorney as you decide how to handle your case.
- You have the right to be free from unlawful searches and seizures.
- You have the right to remain silent. No one can force you to discuss your case. Even if you decide to go to trial you may remain silent. If you remain silent at your trial you have the right to have the judge tell the jury that they cannot use your silence against you.
- You have the right to be informed of many of your rights before the police interrogate you while you are in custody.
- You have the right to be represented by an attorney at ALL critical stages of your case.
- If you cannot afford to hire your own attorney, you have the right to have the court appoint an attorney to represent you at no or minimal cost to you.
- You are presumed innocent of these charges and have the right to force the prosecutor to prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. The fact that you have been charged is not evidence of guilt.
- You have the right to enter a plea of Not Guilty in your case and demand a jury trial of either 6 or 12 jurors. You also can request a trial in front of a judge rather than in front of a jury.
- At any hearing in your case you have the right to confront all of the witnesses who give evidence against you.
- You have the right to subpoena favorable witnesses and evidence into court to assist in your defense.
- You have the right to have your case investigated in an appropriate fashion.
How can a lawyer help me?
The extent to which a lawyer can help you will depend on that lawyer's background, experience, and current practice areas. Most lawyers nowadays limit their practices to only a few areas of law. Think of it like you developed a serious medical problem and you decided to see a doctor. A general practitioner may be able to make an initial diagnosis, but wouldn't you want to see a specialist in order to develop a strategy for treatment? The same holds true with lawyers. If you have questions about a will you seek a lawyer who specializes in that area. If you have a pending criminal charge, always a serious matter, you are best served seeking an experienced criminal defense attorney.
The lawyers at Raivio, Kohlmetz & Steen, P.C. have over 42 years of combined experience defending people charged with crimes in Oregon. We are a three lawyer firm located on the bus mall in the heart of downtown Portland. We offer personalized, confidential and discreet representation. We handle both federal and state criminal charges. If you have been charged with a crime we will always do the following:
- We will demand that the District Attorney provide us with all of the evidence that they intend to use against you. If there is evidence in the hands of third parties or other governmental agencies we will ask the court to order that evidence be produced in court.
- We will carefully and critically scrutinize the State's evidence. If we feel any of the evidence the State seeks to use against you is legally inappropriate, or if we feel that the evidence was procured unlawfully we will file Motions with the court asking a Judge to throw out that evidence so it cannot be used against you.
- We will consult with you to get your side of the story. While we consult we will provide you with all the information you need to know in order to make the right choices for yourself.
- To the extent appropriate to the case at hand we will retain outside investigators and or expert witnesses to make sure every stone has been turned in developing defenses to your charges.
- We will aggressively negotiate with the prosecutor, providing them with information about you that is helpful to your defense.
By taking an aggressive approach to your case we will insure that you are presented with the best available options in deciding how you should proceed.
What do I do if I am contacted by police or I am arrested?
The first thing you should do once you are able is to call a lawyer. If you are contacted by law enforcement and they begin to question you, ask them if you are free to leave. If you are free to leave, you should do so. If you are not free to leave according to the officer you have been stopped or you are under arrest. If that is the case, the first golden rule is to keep quiet. Tell the officer you do not wish to speak to anyone until you have had an opportunity to discuss the matter with an attorney. Say nothing more. Unfortunately you are no longer just a citizen to those questioning you. You are now the enemy. The police are not questioning you to help you. They are questioning you to gather evidence against you. In their mind you are already guilty. There is a very good reason why you have the right to remain silent. Because anything you say can AND WILL be used against you. In most circumstances anything you say to the police can be used against you later on in your case. That's right, the police get to tell a Judge or a Jury what they say you told them months, even years, before.
What do I do if the police want to search me, my belongings, my car or my home?
Often the police will ask you if it is ok to search you or your car or your house etc. If this happens to you JUST SAY NO. Absent unusual circumstances the police need a warrant to search you or your things. If you agree to let them search without a warrant anything they find can probably be used against you at trial. If they are asking to search you can bet they think you are engaged in criminal activity and are looking to build a case against you.
How much will it cost?
At Raivio, Kohlmetz & Steen, P.C. we are committed to providing quality representation at a reasonable fee. All initial consultations are free. At the initial consultation we will negotiate a fee that is appropriate given the nature and relative complexity of the case. We can negotiate flat rate fees or we can negotiate hourly-rate fees. In either case you will know exactly what you are paying for our services.
Attorney fees are different than the costs involved with preparing your defense. Such costs can include, among other things, investigator fees, expert witness fees, and document reproduction fees. The costs of defending a criminal case will also depend on the nature and complexity of your case. We will discuss with you what costs or expenditures we feel are appropriate to your case. We will work with you in an effort to keep costs to a minimum wherever possible.
What do I do if I am contacted by police or I am arrested?
The first thing you should do once you are able is to call a lawyer. If you are contacted by law enforcement and they begin to question you, ask them if you are free to leave. If you are free to leave, you should do so. If you are not free to leave according to the officer you have been stopped or you are under arrest. If that is the case, the first golden rule is to keep quiet. Tell the officer you do not wish to speak to anyone until you have had an opportunity to discuss the matter with an attorney. Say nothing more. Unfortunately you are no longer just a citizen to those questioning you. You are now the enemy. The police are not questioning you to help you. They are questioning you to gather evidence against you. In their mind you are already guilty. There is a very good reason why you have the right to remain silent. Because anything you say can AND WILL be used against you. In most circumstances anything you say to the police can be used against you later on in your case. That's right, the police get to tell a Judge or a Jury what they say you told them months, even years, before.
Often the police will ask you if it is ok to search you or your car or your house etc. If this happens to you JUST SAY NO. Absent unusual circumstances the police need a warrant to search you or your things. If you agree to let them search without a warrant anything they find can probably be used against you at trial. If they are asking to search you can bet they think you are engaged in criminal activity and are looking to build a case against you.
