If you have been charged with a drug crime, you may need help from a criminal lawyer who is familiar with state laws pertaining to drugs, drug paraphernalia, and distribution. Drug laws are complex, and you should consider contacting an attorney who has experience handling these kinds of cases.

Your first step after being charged with a drug crime should be to contact a good criminal lawyer. A criminal defense attorney should have experience and a proven track record of success. An effective criminal lawyer will be someone who regularly handles common drug charges in your area, including possession, distribution or intent to distribute, and trafficking. An experienced criminal lawyer will have handled charges of drug manufacturing and marijuana cultivation, and lesser charges including possession of drug paraphernalia and prescription drug offenses. Before you hire any criminal lawyer, make sure you schedule a consultation.

When you are charged with a drug crime the penalties if you are convicted can vary greatly depending on the charges, and on any prior convictions you might have. An experienced criminal attorney can help make sure that your constitutional rights are protected throughout the process from arrest to trial. Your attorney can also be valuable in helping to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the case against you so that you can make an informed decision about exercising your right to a jury trial, taking a plea deal, or declining to testify at trial. The criminal process can be complex and you should always have an experienced local attorney on your side.

Many personal injury claims near Annapolis arise out of driver negligence. When a driver does not practice proper care while operating a motor vehicle—and that failure causes an accident that hurts someone else—it is time for a personal injury lawyer to get involved.

If you suffer personal injury in a car accident, your attorney will investigate your case to find out if the other driver was negligent. For a successful personal injury claim, you and your personal injury lawyer need to first show that the other driver breached his duty of care. In other words, he failed to act the way a reasonable person would have in a similar circumstance. Next, your personal injury lawyer will need to prove that that failure of care caused your accident. For example, it is often true that when a driver is talking on a cell phone and hits another car, he or she has been negligent.

Assault is a serious criminal charge, and successfully defending against an assault charge requires help from a criminal lawyer near Annapolis. Assault involves any kind of harmful or offensive contact with a person, which is defined as the threat of bodily harm. With the help of an experienced criminal defense attorney, you may be able to successfully defend yourself against an overblown assault charge. Keep reading to learn more about your options, including self-defense, defense of others, and defense of property.

Self-Defense

A criminal lawyer often counsels clients to claim self-defense when someone else threatened to use force or harm against them. If a client truly believed that the other person would harm him, he is entitled to claim self-defense even if he then threatened to harm the would-be attacker. To succeed on this defense, a defendant must not have provoked the other person and cannot have felt free to simply walk away from the situation

Defense of Others

Self-defense is not the only potential defense that can be claimed in regards to an assault charge. Criminal lawyers also put on defense of others claims when clients are forced to threaten another person who is threatening someone else. The defense of others claim is similar to self-defense, except your criminal defense attorney will need to show that you genuinely feared someone else would harm the person you were trying to protect. Additionally, you must have had reasonable grounds for that fear.

Defense of Property

A defendant who has been charged with assault and battery may be able to claim that he acted to protect his property from being illegally withheld or to protect it. As criminal lawyers know, laws in each state vary, so it is important to tell your attorney exactly what happened. However, many states allow individuals to defend their homes against intruders and trespassers. Additionally, some states permit victims of purse snatching or pickpocketing to threaten force to retrieve their stolen possessions.

Law firms in Annapolis advise their clients that everyone has the right to defend him or herself. However, a criminal lawyer will also warn clients that there are limitations to this right. You can learn more by watching this video.

Criminal lawyers often plead self-defense on behalf of their clients, but most people do not fully understand what this means. If someone claims self-defense, he or she must have felt a threat of imminent harm. Additionally, their criminal lawyer must prove that the defendant did not use any more force than was necessary to dispel the threat. However, self-defense and defense of others are often highly successful claims, and many people avoid jail time and convictions by showing that they were defending themselves.