Speaker 1: How do I avoid a conviction if you have been charged with a crime? Hi, I'm Jeff Hampton, the managing partner of Hampton Criminal Defense Attorneys, and I want to answer the question I get all the time. How do I avoid a conviction if I've been charged with a crime? Well, the number one thing you should do right out of the gate is you should hire an attorney early in the process. And the reason why I say that is there is work being done behind the scenes. Soon after you've been arrested, the file is being sent by the detective straight to the district attorney's office. A DA is laying eyes on it and making assumptions and determinations based on only one side of the story, which is the police. And in fact, there's many times there's decisions made to both file a case and to actually sometimes indict a case with the grand jury with only hearing one side of the story. So it's really important you hire an attorney. Now let's say you hire that lawyer. What should you do next? Your attorney should then be getting access to the police reports, the video, and all the other evidence associated with the entire file. Come in, sit down with you, let you take a look at everything and get your feedback. It's not going to be surprising when you sit down and take a look at that evidence from the police that it's going to be pretty one-sided and it's probably not going to be correct because they will have written the reports after you were arrested to make a determination to justify that arrest. So there's many times there's an opportunity for you to be able to look through that information, provide that information back to your lawyer, and now your lawyer can sit down and create a defense strategy and come up with a plan of attack. For example, let's say maybe there were some things that were done illegally. Sometimes we find what looks like on the police report supposedly a legal search ends up being an illegal search when we take a look at the video. So maybe there was a confession so-called, maybe there were some things that the police are claiming that you said, but once the actual video is reviewed and other evidence, it's determined that it wasn't a confession at all. It was just the police filling in the blanks. Or maybe they violated the confession statute and they didn't reach your Miranda rights and now the confession can be thrown out. There are many things that can be done early in the process. Your attorney could file a motion to suppress, to throw that evidence out. And then another thing that's really important, if your case is an actual felony, it must be indicted by a grand jury. A grand jury is a panel of citizens that listen to evidence and they essentially filter out bad cases. That's kind of the point of it all. But the reality of it is unless your attorney and unless you hire an attorney early in the process, unless they take information and present your side of it, then they're only looking at one side. They only get to hear what the cops had to say. So overwhelmingly, what do you think is going to happen? They're going to believe whatever the police said because they didn't hear any other side of the story. So it's important to get that done. That usually happens within the first 30 to 60 days after your case has been filed. So having an attorney involved is critical early in the process. Additionally, your attorney needs to, I like to think of it this way, your attorney really needs to find a way to get the prosecutor to listen to your side of the story. And that is more effective when done early in the criminal justice process. Because sometimes, I mean, look, I used to be a prosecutor and these prosecutors many times do not want to indict bad cases. So if you present information to that prosecutor, there have been many times I've been able to get an ally with that prosecutor where they began to realize, well, I don't want to try this case. This is a garbage case. I need to maybe get rid of it at the grand jury phase because everything in the grand jury is secretive and that case can then be kind of pushed off and be done with at that point in time. So then that's why it's so important to hire the right attorney. It's really important to hire an attorney that knows the area that you're in, knows the county and state for which you were looking to get defense. I mean, think of it this way. They need to know what the nuances, have they dealt with this type of judge before? Are they worked with these prosecutors before? What kind of track record do they have? Have they actually gotten results that you're looking for similarly with this particular prosecutor in this court? Because if not, many times the reality of it is you need to know that there's an attorney that you're working with that has some bit of a track record of being able to establish the results that you're looking for. Now, number two, what if it's your first time offense? If it's your first time offense, you may be able to examine a diversion program to not only avoid a conviction, but get your case dismissed and get this thing off your record. For instance, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, there are a number of diversion programs that could be helpful. There are the drug diversion programs, there's the veterans program, there's the mental health diversion program, and there's the first offender drug program. Now why do I say that? Well, I could go through a list of additional programs that are out there, and some people say I don't need a program. Well, sometimes people do need a program because maybe they have something that could be a support mechanism for them. But the real carrot at the end of the stick on the diversion programs is that if you successfully complete these programs, at the end your case is dismissed, and many times you're actually eligible for an expunction, a complete destruction of your records, sooner under a diversion program than you are if your case was just dismissed for lack of evidence. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense why they would do that, but these diversion programs are in place and they're funded by the state, and essentially what it does is pull your case out of the court system. For example, in the Fort Worth area, in Tarrant County, you can do what's called the DPP program, the Deferred Prosecution Program, and literally if it's a misdemeanor, the whole thing can be over within four months, and all you have to do is mail in a form once a month for four months, stay out of trouble, don't get arrested, and then either be in school or be working a job. So some of these things are very quick. Instead of having to wait two years to get this thing expunged off your record, under a diversion program you could get it done as soon as four months. So that's option number two we talk about is a possible diversion program. Number three, we can talk about a dismissal for lack of evidence. This is the old-fashioned, the state can't prove it, right? Remember, the prosecutor must prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. At no time does the burden of proof shift over to the defense. The prosecution must always prove the case. And so as a result of that, a good, experienced attorney can come in, exploit the weaknesses of the case, and sometimes we've been able to go in and just talk directly to the prosecutor, expose the fact that it's a weak case, convince them to dismiss it for lack of evidence. For example, we had a client that was wrongfully charged with a crime of harassment. His ex-wife was trying to bait him into this harassment charge because she would try to make him think that one of his children was hurt, maybe in some sort of medical episode, and then he would begin to call and she would ignore him. He would call and call and call, and there would be this log of multiple calls because she would not respond to him. Multiple text messages back and forth. Of course, she then takes that to a detective who then just believes what she says, and the next thing you know, he's staring at a harassment charge that after we exposed what her real motive was, the prosecutor understood and did not want to have any part of that in a possible trial. So that's the other point you can do, is dismissal for lack of evidence. Well, what if there's a gray area? Maybe if the evidence is a little kind of in between about whether or not it can be proven or not, another option is what's known as a conditional dismissal. A conditional dismissal means this, a prosecutor will agree to dismiss your charge in exchange for you doing something in return. For instance, we've had many first-time shoplifters, drug offenses, where we can convince the prosecutor to turn around and dismiss your charge if, let's say, you give an online drug class. Maybe you do an online drug class and a clean drug test. Maybe if that's for the drug cases. Maybe if it's a shoplifting, maybe you do an online theft prevention class and some community service hours. Now, some people say, I don't really want to do those things. Does that make me look guilty? Absolutely not, because the only reason that you would even consider doing a conditional dismissal is you want that same dismissal in hand that makes you eligible to still get the entire thing expunged from your criminal record. So that's a conditional dismissal. Now, let's talk for a moment about a reduction to a lesser charge. This is a strategy where maybe the actual evidence may establish that a crime has taken place, but maybe it's debatable about whether or not it was as charged. A good example of this is we've represented many people for the crime of aggravated assault deadly weapon. But maybe it was by threat and no one actually fired the gun. And instead, it was just being held. We've had many, many aggravated assault deadly weapons charges drop down to lesser charges of some type of either assault or a terroristic threat, or we've even had it where the discharge of a firearm in a municipality, because at no time was objectively was that so-called victim ever in fear of serious bodily injury or death. I use that an example as to say this. It really experienced attorneys that are aggressive can come in many times and convince the prosecutor to drop that charge from like an aggravated assault. That's a second degree felony. Drop that thing down to a misdemeanor that allows you to stay out of jail, be able to avoid a conviction and get this thing off your criminal record. All right. Now, the next thing we look at is not only a reduction of charges, but look, what if the evidence pretty clearly shows that something happened here? One of the things you can do many times is get a deferred adjudication. Now this is kind of the last ditch thing for us. We prefer our clients, if at all possible, to get one of these other options we've discussed. But what is a deferred adjudication? Deferred adjudication essentially means you must do a plea before the judge, but instead of the judge finding you guilty, the judge defers a finding of guilt, places you on a probation for a period of time, and upon completion of that probation, the case is administratively dismissed. Now, it is true. You avoid prison, you avoid jail, you avoid a conviction, so to speak, and the real kind of questionable area on this is whether or not you can get it off your record. A deferred adjudication does not make you eligible for an expunction, but it can make you eligible for a nondisclosure. But there are certain crimes out there, sex-based crimes, some other base crimes out there, that if you take a deferred adjudication, you can still not get that nondisclosed or sealed from your criminal record. So that's why it's so important to work with an attorney that both knows how to get you a good result, but also knows the laws as it relates to getting these crimes off of your criminal record. So that's deferred adjudication. Finally, what's one of the last things you can do? You obviously have a right to a jury trial. Every person has the right to a jury trial if the state persists in moving forward with your case. And the reason why I'm saying that is it can many times be risky, but sometimes it's required. I've had clients who've actually said things like, well, you know, I'm 100% innocent, so I want to move forward, and you have a right to do that. But one of the things we do is any attorney cannot control who shows up on the jury panel that day. You may have an 85-year-old Church of Christ grandma, which nothing against the Church of Christ grandma, it's a wonderful thing, but the reality of it is she may come in and believe anything and everything that that police officer says, even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And so part of why it's important to have a good lawyer is that jury selection is one of the most important parts of a criminal jury trial. You want to try to avoid having those people on your jury that might be biased against you. But if you have a 60-panel jury and you've got 10 of them that are all similar, you may not be able to get all of them off the jury. So there is some risk in moving forward with a jury trial, which is why all of these other options we've discussed should be exhausted before you move forward with that process. But remember, if you do have to go to trial, there must be a unanimous verdict against you in order to find you guilty. So if it's a misdemeanor charge, there must be six jurors in Texas that are unanimous in finding you guilty. And if there is a felony charge, there must be 12 jurors that are unanimous in finding you guilty. And all it takes is one. If there's one who says, I don't know, I'm holding out on this, there can be a mistrial and you will not be found guilty. So these are some of the things. Now people ask me, okay, Jeff, thanks for sharing that with me, but what role do I have in avoiding a criminal conviction? How do I make sure that I can contribute the best I can when I'm working with my lawyer? Well, one of the first things you can do is be patient. Now I can tell you, speaking for the cases in the North Texas area, these prosecutors, they've got a very high caseload, particularly since COVID, and they can be working anywhere between 200 to 300 cases. Now that's no excuse for them not to do their job, but the reality of it is to the patient goes the prize. Many prosecutors, and I know this because I used to be one, many prosecutors are trained to come at people, even weak cases with offers that they know they can't sustain if the case goes to a trial. So the reality of it is experienced aggressive attorneys will absolutely say no and continue to push that prosecutor all the way up closer to a trial setting, and as that case gets closer to a trial, many times prosecutors begin to cave, that offer begins to come down, and now there could be opportunities you're missing out on if you rush the process. Many times you have to let the wheels of justice that move very slowly continue to move until things start to move in your favor. We have literally had cases where someone starts off with a 10 year prison offer, and by the time it gets all the way up to a trial setting, that individual is now looking at a misdemeanor charge or they're on probation, a much more favorable result. Now the next thing you can do, whatever you do, don't just let your lawyer do everything that they're doing. You need to review your evidence. You need to provide feedback. Your lawyer was not there. They don't know for sure what happened. They're only getting one side of it if they don't hear it from you. You need to absolutely provide feedback and let people know exactly what you were doing and give that feedback and any evidence so that your attorney can actually help you in the process. Number three, one of the things I want to talk about is a brag book, particularly if you're a first time offender. We've represented lots of doctors and lawyers and engineers and people in professional positions, but also just good people that have just never been in trouble before, and they're really being brought in and characterized as criminals, and even if you did do something wrong, it might have been a lapse of judgment and not that you're a criminal whatsoever. So I really like our clients to be able to bring in a brag book, establishing your good character, all these wonderful things about who you are, because here's the reality. Prosecutors are still people, and when we can show them that you're not a criminal and they can see that you're a good person in this situation, many times it helps your attorney to be able to establish getting that favorable result to kind of push it over the edge. Finally, never forget the goal. What's the goal when you hire an attorney and you're fighting a case? Number one, you always want to find a way to avoid jail time in prison. No one wants to go to jail, okay? But number two, you want to avoid a conviction. You don't want to be a convicted felon or convicted of anything for that matter. Number three, you want to make sure you can get your case dismissed if at all possible. And then finally, number four, of all the things that are out there, even getting your case reduced to a lesser charge, an experienced attorney many times can be creative in finding ways to resolve your case so that the ultimate goal is you can look back when you get to the future. You can look back and you can look back and no one can see your case because you were able to get your case expunged or sealed from your criminal record. So these are some of the goals that you should have. And if you have a case in the North Texas area, we'll provide you a free consultation and free case analysis. But I hope this has been helpful for you and I'll check you out on our next video series.