How Do You Know If You Are under Criminal Investigation?

Interviewer: If someone hasn’t been arrested, what are the ways that they know they might be under investigation?

AZ Criminal Law Team Lawyer: Most often, officer will start asking questions such as have you had anything to drink tonight? Do you have anything in your vehicle? If they smell marijuana, they will ask, have you smoked marijuana? Do you have any marijuana?

Interviewer: What if I get a call from a police officer or detective and they asked me to come in and answer some questions, am I obligated to do that?

AZ Criminal Law Team Lawyer: I would recommend in that situation for someone to have an attorney with them before they go in and submit to questioning.

You should tell the police that I’d like to speak to my attorney first we can come in and answer questions but I like for my attorney present. You can also ask the detective to contact your attorney directly.

Do the Courts in Arizona Show Leniency for First Offense Drug-Related Cases?

Interviewer: Do you think that there’s any sort of leniency for first time offender?

AZ Criminal Law Team Lawyer: Yes, there is a diversion program available for first time offenders. Someone can enter into TASC if they don’t have any prior drug related offenses or prior violent crimes on their record.

Why Does the Attorney Need to Examine the Facts of the Police Stop and Arrest in a Drug-Related Charge?

Interviewer: When a new client sits down with you, what are some of the questions that they’re asking? What are the top three or top five ones?

AZ Criminal Law Team Lawyer: On a drug charge or a DUI charge, first of all a lot of times they’ll ask what they’re facing. They want to know what consequences there are for this charge.My job is to assess the case. I examine the case to determine whether there might be some legal issues. An aspect of the case might involve whether it’s a bad stop and the police did not have reasonable suspicion.

What Are “Bad” Police Stops?

Interviewer: What do you mean by a bad stop?

AZ Criminal Law Team Lawyer: Well, there has to be a reasonable suspicion to stop someone. Many times, there are cases where you can disprove the legitimacy of the stop. I recently had a case where someone was turning onto a neighborhood street and the officer pulled him over for riding in the middle of the road.

However, when you looked at the pictures of the roadway or street on Google maps, there wasn’t any choice but to drive in the middle of the street since it was such a narrow roadway and cars were parked on both sides. Under the statute the person did not violate any law since they were driving as close as practicable to one side of the street. In this case, there was not reasonable suspicion to pull this person over and therefore it was a bad stop.

Drug-Related Cases Can Take 2 to 18 Months to Resolve

Interviewer: So, how long could a drug-related case potentially last?

AZ Criminal Law Team Lawyer: Cases can potentially last anywhere from as little as a couple month to many years. It really depends on the circumstances of the case.

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