A criminal charge against your name is a serious matter. It can lead to a lot of complications in your life including imprisonment, penalties, job loss, lost reputation and difficulties for your near and dear ones. The domino effect sets in and suddenly you see that the damage is much more than you had earlier anticipated. When a crime is committed, you can't feign or claim ignorance of law to escape the consequences. You will need to prove your innocence to the court to get an acquittal or a diminished sentence.

When do you need a criminal lawyer?

So, in case you are charged with some crime in New Jersey, or if you feel that you may be implicated in some crime, the best thing for you to do is to hire a very fierce and experienced Criminal Lawyer New Jersey, to protect your rights and defend you against any possible undue harassment. You need to share honestly all the details of your case and trust that person's professional expertise to get you out of the mess, if not completely, then at least to the best possible extent legally possible. You may need a criminal Attorney in New Jersey, for any of the following situations:-

ï,§ Prevent wrongful arrests
ï,§ Prevent searches of assets and properties
ï,§ Secure bails
ï,§ Defend criminal charges in court
ï,§ Making Criminal investigations
ï,§ Plead against sentences
ï,§ File Plea bargains
ï,§ Filing appeals

What kind of Criminal Attorney New Jersey, you hire depends on the nature of your alleged crime and the severity of the charges. Crime charges range from minor ones carrying a light sentence to major ones called felonies which can cause you some serious setback in life. The best thing to do is hire a lawyer who specializes in the specific category of crime you are charge with. Some of the common crime categories are:

Types of crimes

ï,§ Homicide
ï,§ Assault and battery
ï,§ Sexual abuse and Child abuse
ï,§ Criminal fraud
ï,§ White collar crime
ï,§ Cyber crimes
ï,§ Drugs related crimes
ï,§ Embezzlement
ï,§ Theft and robbery

Pre-trial assistance by a Criminal lawyer

Criminal Lawyer New Jersey, can be hired before trial process begins. In fact pre-trial assistance is the best case scenario for a person who suspects that some legal hassles are on their way. An experienced Attorney can make sure that you are treated fairly and all your rights are observed. Your legal help can also coach you regarding how to act and what to say or not say when faced with police action and investigations:

Anticipated Charges

You may hire a lawyer if you have reasons to believe that soon authorities will come knocking at your door for some crime they believe you have committed. Having a legal professional by your side will comfort you as well as prevent any unlawful harassment. You will be briefed by the lawyer about all the things you should say or avoid saying during the questioning or investigation.
Search warrants

Similarly, if a person suspects that his or her properties and assets are under a threat of a police search and if he or she wants to avoid that, then to a lawyer can come to his/her help and challenge the legal sanction of a search warrant.
Drop charges

A person may hire a Criminal Attorney New Jersey, to convince the court to drop charges brought against him or her. This is possible if the defense is able to convince court that the evidence is not sufficient to validate the charges or that some improper procure was followed during framing of the charges against the client. Ideally a police officer must have probable cause to arrest a person or frame charges. Criminal jurisprudence says that in case there are no compelling reasons to believe that a person has committed a crime, then an officer cannot arrest him or her.

Securing bail

A person may be detained and kept in arrest pending a trial. However if you furnish a cash bond or money, the court can allow you a "bail". It is an assurance to court that you will show up for trial when required otherwise your bail money will be forfeited and additional charges will be slapped against you. A smart lawyer can even persuade court to reduce your bail amount or waive it completely.
Plea Bargain

In case you are sure that if you go to trial your guilt in the crime would be proven, your Criminal Lawyer New Jersey, may advice you to go for a plea bargain with the prosecution. A plea bargain is an agreement between the prosecution and the defense to reduce severity of charges to lesser charge if the person charged with crime pleads guilty to the charge.

Criminal Lawyer services during trial

Once the trial is on then the job of a hired Criminal Attorney is to represent his or her client, the defendant, with as much professional prudence as possible. The attorney has to honestly disclose possible outcomes of the court proceedings to the defendant and advice him or her how to fight the case. The three options are:

ï,§ Plead guilty - You admit to crime and plead for lesser sentencing
ï,§ Plead not guilty - You claim innocence and try to disapprove the charges
ï,§ Nolo Contendre - You will not contest charges.

The lawyer can assist the court in jury selection. This adds to the fairness of the verdict when it is announced. Next the lawyer defending the defendant has to make a powerful opening statement declaring the innocence of the client and then proceed to refute and disapprove the evidences against the client and present self collected evidence that proves innocence of the client. The trial may lead to an acquittal of the defendant or being declared guilty. In case the defendant is declared guilty and sentenced then the criminal attorney New Jersey, will proceed to pursue the appeal process for the defendant against the court sentencing. The appeals are made to a higher court than the one which has passed the guilty sentence.