How to Choose the Best Criminal Defense Lawyer in Tampa

Every day, thousands of people in the U.S. are arrested for crimes that range from relatively minor misdemeanors that are quickly dismissed to full-blown felonies that result in criminal convictions. If you are unlucky enough to be arrested, there’s no question that you’ll want your case to end with a dismissal or a similar positive result. But is there anything you can do to push your case toward a better result?

The best thing you can do is contact a reputable Tampa criminal defense attorney right away. Knowing how to choose the best criminal defense lawyer in Tampa will further increase the likelihood that your arrest doesn’t result in a conviction that ruins your life.

A Good Tampa Criminal Defense Lawyer Will Protect Your Rights

The primary reason why it is so important to choose a great criminal defense lawyer in Tampa is because high-quality criminal defense attorneys understand the many ways your rights can be violated by the police or prosecuting team. Your lawyer can use any violations of your rights as proof to defend you against charges.

The Right to an Attorney

If you are convicted of a felony charge, the Florida Criminal Punishment Code allows the presiding judge to impose any sentence that falls within the sentencing guidelines for that crime. When such guidelines include a chance of prison or jail time (even if they are unlikely), you have the right to be assigned a defense lawyer by the state if you can’t afford one. That doesn’t mean you have the right to an attorney only if your liberties are at stake, of course; any time you are arrested, even if the potential sentence only includes fines, you have the right to demand legal representation.

Once you insist upon that right, the police are not permitted to interrogate you until your attorney is present. If the police continue to interrogate you after you have requested a lawyer, anything you say during that interrogation will be deemed illegally obtained evidence. Your criminal defense attorney in Tampa will identify such behavior by the police and use it as the basis of a motion to get that evidence tossed out by the presiding judge. Often, when motions like these are successful, the prosecution will either dismiss the charges or reduce them due to a lack of evidence.

 

Protection From Illegal Search and Seizure

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution enforces due process rights. In other words, the police cannot search your home, property, or person without a warrant or probable cause. Being arrested does not change or limit those rights. The police will still need to convince a judge to approve a search warrant before they can search your home; and if they fail to do so before conducting a search, any evidence they acquire during it is the fruit of unapproved activity. Your Tampa criminal defense lawyer will use these details to convince the prosecutor to dismiss or reduce charges. Typically, the judge presiding over the case will toss out any evidence acquired in that manner, just as they would toss out evidence acquired from an illegal interrogation.

If you are arrested in Tampa, the choice between the right and wrong attorney can mean the difference between jail time and freedom. Secure your rights by contacting Taracks & Associates at 813-281-2897 to schedule a free consultation today.

Choosing the Right Criminal Defense Attorney

Understanding why choosing the right criminal defense lawyer in Tampa is important is only part of the equation. You next need to know how to pick from the hundreds of attorneys who handle cases in Florida. A key strategy is to consider each of the following factors:

What You Were Charged With

Every lawyer focuses on different parts of the law. While both fraud and human trafficking are criminal charges, defending against those charges requires different approaches. A lawyer may have 20 years of experience, but if they have never handled a DUI case, they are practically guaranteed to be a worse choice than the attorney with one year of experience handling nothing but DUI cases.

To that end, you want an attorney who has, preferably, handled dozens or even hundreds of cases that are similar to yours. Attorneys with that kind of experience will require less work to get up to speed with the specifics of your case and will already be fully familiar with the intricacies of the laws that regulate the crime you were charged with.

Availability

One problem that arises when hiring one of the most acclaimed lawyers in their field is just that: their popularity. If a criminal defense attorney is considered to be significantly better than their peers, they probably have a massive caseload. As such, even if the lawyer takes your case, they may not be able to devote as much time to it as you’d like. That could delay it by weeks or months, potentially resulting in the lawyer’s making mistakes or passing work off to someone else in their firm. Typically, it is better to choose a lawyer with a lighter caseload than a more acclaimed one who is overloaded.

Communication

Another crucial element that goes into choosing the right attorney is communication. You want a lawyer who will keep you up-to-date with their progress as often as you prefer. Some clients choose to be updated only when something major happens, while others prefer regular scheduled contact. Furthermore, the right attorney should be willing to communicate with you in any manner that is convenient for you; if yours is willing to talk to you only over the phone despite your voicing a preference for email, they aren’t the right choice. Your attorney should be able to answer any questions you have regarding the process.

Contact Taracks & Associates for Criminal Defense in Tampa

If you are arrested for any type of crime in Tampa, you need to take that arrest seriously and consult with a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible.

Picking the right attorney is critical to getting fair justice. At Taracks & Associates, we offer a free case evaluation and consultation to provide you the confidence to determine whether we are right for you. Call us at 813-281-2897 to schedule an appointment today.