Question 1

In this series we're going to hit criminal law matters head on, focusing on drug crime offenses. Counselor, let's get right down to our top criminal law questions, starting with, what's the best way to find a competent, aggressive criminal law attorney to handle someone's case? (transcribed from video interview with Dwane Cates, Attorney at law Phoenix AZ www. azlaw4u.com)

That's a real common question. Most people have never hired an attorney in their life and they don't even know how to begin the process. You should probably start by looking on the Internet and picking two or three different attorneys that seem like the kind of attorney that you'd like to hire. Then call their office and talk to each one of the attorneys on the phone first. And you can judge by their office staff, how youi're treated, how easy it is to get ahold of the attorney and by talking to two or three or four attorneys on the phone you can get a good idea of a couple that you might want to interview. Once you've picked a couple that you want to interview, make an appointment, go in and see the attorney and again, see how you're treated by their staff, see how you're treated by the attorney at that interview and basically follow your gut feeling. Most people have a gut feeling about what's right for them and try to hire an attorney that you feel comfortable with.

Ok, with that said, are their any referral resources on the Internet that you would recommend that someone should go to to hear reviews on good criminal law attorneys?

There are several places on the Internet where you can go and read attorney reviews. There are sites like AVVO, that have attorney reviews. You just put the attorneys name in and the city that they're in and they should pop up and any reviews that they have. You can also just put the attorney's name in google and see what comes up when you put their name in.

Question 2

What should someone do if someone they know or they themselves have been arrested for a criminal offense? (transcribed from video interview with Dwane Cates, Attorney at law Phoenix AZ www. azlaw4u.com)

Well it's really important if you or someone you love has been arrested that you get an attorney right away. Because some things are gonna happen and they are going to happen pretty quickly. Within the first 24 hours, the court is going to have an initial appearance. Now that initial appearance is very important because what's going to happen is, a judge is going to decide whether or not you get out of jail and under what conditions you get out of jail. And at that hearing, the judge could post a high bond that you're unable to post. If that happens, there can be two or three or four weeks before you can get that bond reduced or if you can get it reduced at all.

Well, bottom line, you need to find a competitent attorney right away or suffer the consequences.

That's correct. You need to get a good competitent attorney involved right away and generally attorneys charge flat fees in this area and it won't cost extra to have an attorney at that first hearing. Good advice counselor, thank you.

Question 3

What happens if someone is pulled over in Arizona and given a warning ticket and the officer askes to search the car? What should somebody do at that point? (transcribed from video interview with Dwane Cates, Attorney at law Phoenix AZ www. azlaw4u.com)

Well, that's a real common accurance in Arizona. Most of the DPS officers in Arizona are trained as drug interdiction officers and many of them have drug dogs in their car. They're looking for drug traffickers driving up and down Arizona highways. One of the main things they look for is rental cars. If you're driving a rental car through Arizona there's a very good chance that you're going to get pulled over. What they do is they look for minor traffic infractions. They look for any reason they can find to pull you over. LIke the GPS stuck to the middle of the windshield. A head lamp out, any reason they can find to pull you over. Once they pull you over, they'll give you a warning ticket and then they'll want to ask you after they give you the warning ticket, they'll want to ask you if you can answer some questions. And the answer to that question should be no. Because the stop's over once they give you the warning ticket. Once they give you the warning ticket you should ask them "am I free to leave"? And if they say you're free to leave, you should get in your car and drive off.

I appreciate what you're saying but, by not answering questions or allowing the officer to search your car, doesn't that bring up a red flag?

You have an absolute constitutional right to not make statements to a police officer without your attorney present. You've seen it on all the cop shows where they read people their rights, that you have the right to remain silent and that's what people should do, is remain silent. Many people try to explain things away or they think that they can talk their way out of it. I see it all the time where people have a marijuana medical certificate from California or Colorado and they try to explain to the officer that they have a medical card and that the marijuana in their car is legal but in Arizona it's not. Any amount of Marijuana in Arizona is a felony, whether you have a medical card or not and they will arrest you for a felony.

Question 4

Arizona has many immigration check points that are arresting people for drug crimes. Is that legal and what rights does someone have in this circumstance? (transcribed from video interview with Dwane Cates, Attorney at law Phoenix AZ www. azlaw4u.com)

These immigration checkpoints are legal. Technically, the United States Supreme court said if the main purpose of a check point is immigration that it's legal and that it's legal while they're getting that immigration information to run a drug dog around your car. Now, they'll do that and if the drug dog alerts to the car indicating the presence of drugs, they have the right to search your car. Now, they'll search your car and if they find drugs, you'll be arrested.

So what if someone is caught with a small amount of drugs in their possession, what happens then?

Well if you're caught with a small amount of marijuana, they'll charge you with attempted possession of marijuana. Now, they do that because they make thousands of arrests a year, literally thousands of people are arrested for a half a gram, a quarter, a gram, a gram of marijuana. Now if they put all those cases into the felony court, it would overwhelm the felony court, but they charge it as an attempt which allows it to be treated as a misdemeanor and they can go to the justice court. And most of the cases, like at the immigration check point go to the wealth and justice court which has the time and energy to devote to these misdemeanor cases. Now if you're caught with a large amount of drugs or a large amount of marijuana or any drugs such as cocaine or heroine or meth amphetamine, they will treat that as a felony and you won't be cited and released. You will be held until a police officer, either a highway patrolman or sheriff, can make it out to the check point. They will take you into custody, take you into the detention center and you'll have to see a judge within 24 hours.

Question 5

We all know Arizona is a major source of drugs being smuggled from Mexico. What happens if someone is caught with a large quantity of drugs? (transcribed from video interview with Dwane Cates, Attorney at law Phoenix AZ www. azlaw4u.com)

Well, Arizona takes large amounts of marijuana very seriously and in many cases it involves a great deal of prison time. It's very important if you're caught with a large amount of marijuana that you hire an attorney. Now there are two routes that it can go. You can be charged in the state courts or you can be charged in the federal courts. Now, in the federal courts, the amount of prison time that you could serve is based solely on the amount of marijuana you have and it's a very complicated system and you need a very good attorney who has experience in federal court in drug crimes to handle that case. In Arizona, any amount over two pounds is technically a felony and mandatory prison. Now not everybody with over 2 pounds goes to prison because plea bargins can be struck and sometimes cases get dismissed. But both cases are very serious and you need a top notch drug attorney.

So basically if you're caught with a large quantity of drugs you're going to end up in jail.

Well, not always, that's why you need a good criminal offense attorney who's experienced in drug crimes. Now there are cases where we get cases thrown out because of a bad search, or because they filed on somebody's constituional rights in the way they stopped them, they didn't give them the proper miranda warnings. There are alot of different ways you can attack at one of these highway drug cases, even with large quantities. You need to have an attorney who will leave no stone unturned to try to find a way to either reduce your sentence or try to get your case dismissed.

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