Bloomfield Criminal Defense Lawyer.

If you are charged in Bloomfield, it’s important for you to know what you may be up against and what your options are. In general, lower-level charges will go to the Bloomfield Municipal Court, and indictable charges will go to Essex County Superior Court, located in Newark. Even though every case is different, by understanding what is going to happen in your criminal case, you can properly prepare to defend yourself.

For lower-level charges, you will usually go to the municipal court in room 227 of the Law Enforcement Building, 1 Municipal Plaza. If you are there for a DWI matter, you will go to the separate DWI session at 1 pm on Wednesday afternoons. An indictable case goes to Superior Court in Newark, where the process can involve prosecutor screening, disclosure or discovery of evidence, grand jury review, consideration of motions like those seeking to exclude evidence at trial, discussion of plea options, and possibly a jury trial.

The seriousness of a criminal charge and the potential repercussions you are facing will depend on how your charges are classified. Disorderly persons offenses are like misdemeanors, which means that the charge is relatively low level. Potential punishments for these crimes can include up to six months of imprisonment. Indictable crimes are felony-level crimes and may involve several years in jail. A third-degree crime can carry a potential prison term of 3 to 5 years.

Detention Hearing

Anyone who is detained in jail before their initial court date will go before a judge within 48 hours of the detention. This first appearance will determine whether or not the defendant will be able to be released while their case is pending. If the prosecutor wants the defendant to stay in jail, this requires a formal hearing and presentation of evidence to determine if you will be detained in jail while waiting for your case to be resolved. A detention hearing has to be held within three working days of the prosecutor’s motion. In cases related to guns, prosecutors can extend the time it takes for the initial release decision to be made, but they must ask the judge to give them more time, saying that additional ballistics testing must be done. In that case, the waiting time before the decision must not extend past seven days.

Eligible for a Public Defender

If you are charged in the municipal court or superior court in Bloomfield or Essex County, you may be eligible for a public defender if you cannot afford to hire a private defense attorney. In Bloomfield, you’ll have to get the financial questionnaire by asking the judge on your court date. If the judge agrees, your meeting with the public defender will be scheduled on your next court date. There’s also a $200 application fee, but this fee might get waived if you can prove clearly and convincingly that it creates an unreasonable burden. For indictable charges (at the superior court), you have a right to representation by an attorney. The court will decide, based on the 5A form, whether you qualify for a public defender to be appointed to you. Another option you have is to hire a private lawyer, in which case you can use the Essex County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service. This service can help you get legal counsel by matching you with a lawyer for a 30-minute consultation, for which you would pay a fee of $30.

The Strength of the Government’s Case

If a criminal defense lawyer is handling your charges in Bloomfield, they will first want to talk to you about the basic facts of your case. They will look over all of the discovery, meaning any other documents, images, or other evidence provided by the prosecution. All of this is intended to help the attorney analyze the strength of the government’s case against you, which will help determine how they choose to approach the case. For example, a police report may say you “refused” or “pulled away.” Context can be determined through surveillance videos, dispatch recordings, police body camera recordings, or by looking into the timeline surrounding the report. Then there’s also the matter of independent witnesses.

In each criminal case, the State must prove the exact offense of which you have been charged. This means that the prosecution needs to prove the relevant conduct and also the mental state described in the law for each specific criminal charge. Confusion, fear, hesitation or miscommunication is not automatically a crime.

A big issue that defense attorneys consider is whether or not the police performed an illegal search and seizure. If the police carried out any sort of search and seizure that violated the US Constitution, then they may have broken the law, which means that evidence they found or collected because of that illegal act might be thrown out of court as invalid evidence.

It is sometimes possible for someone charged with certain crimes to enter into a diversion program, meaning the case can be dismissed or decided more favorably. The use of diversionary programs such as Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI) depends on your specific criminal record, the offense and the program rules. A diversionary outcome is sometimes the easy path, but it may or may not be the best path. Depending on whether there are strong factual or constitutional defenses, it’s worth a serious discussion. A conviction can affect many things, like future employment, professional licenses, or even immigration issues. Those factors should be weighed along with how likely you are to win the case.

Early review of the evidence can be critical. Small details can decide the case. Any video should be requested early to be preserved. Also, be certain you understand exactly what you are accused of.