Criminal Defense Video FAQs
Criminal cases create questions long before trial. Should you speak with police? How important is discovery? What happens to illegally obtained evidence? When should you hire a lawyer? What happens after a conviction?
These short videos from Ratliff Jackson LLP address common questions about New Jersey criminal investigations, evidence, criminal procedure, defense strategy, appeals, and probation.
Start With the Question That Matches Your Situation
A criminal case can begin with an arrest, a summons, a detective's phone call, a search warrant, or an investigation that has not yet resulted in charges. The legal issues change as the case moves from investigation through discovery, motions, resolution, trial, sentencing, and post-conviction proceedings.
The videos below are organized by stage of the case so you can go directly to the issue that matters now.
Starting a Criminal Case
These videos address timing, plea negotiations, police contact, and when legal representation may become important.
What Is the Usual Duration of a Criminal Case in New Jersey?
There is no single timeline for a New Jersey criminal case. The length can depend on whether the defendant is detained, the complexity of the investigation, discovery, grand jury proceedings, motion practice, court scheduling, plea negotiations, and whether the case proceeds to trial.
Plea Negotiations Versus Going to Trial
A plea offer should be evaluated against the evidence, available defenses, sentencing exposure, collateral consequences, and the risks of trial. Preparing for trial and negotiating a case are not mutually exclusive.
When Should I Hire a New Jersey Criminal Defense Lawyer?
Legal representation can begin before an arrest or court appearance. If a detective contacts you, you receive notice of criminal charges, or you learn that you are the subject of an investigation, counsel may be able to address police contact and begin evaluating the matter before the case progresses further.
What Should You Do When New Jersey Police Contact You?
A request to answer questions should not automatically be treated as an informal conversation. Statements made during an investigation can later become evidence. Obtain the officer or detective's information and speak with counsel before deciding whether to participate in an interview.
Choosing and Meeting With a Criminal Defense Lawyer
What Should You Look For in a Criminal Defense Lawyer?
Criminal representation requires legal judgment, communication, preparation, and the ability to explain difficult choices clearly. A client should understand how the lawyer approaches evidence, negotiations, trial preparation, and communication during the case.
What Happens at the First Defense Consultation?
The first consultation commonly involves building a timeline, identifying police contact, searches, statements, witnesses, pending charges, court dates, and potential collateral consequences. Accurate information helps counsel determine what should be investigated first.
Can I Represent Myself in a New Jersey Criminal Case?
A defendant may have a constitutional right to self-representation if the waiver of counsel is knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. Self-represented defendants are still expected to comply with evidentiary rules, procedure, filing requirements, and courtroom practice.
What Cases Do New Jersey Criminal Defense Lawyers Handle?
Criminal defense can range from municipal and disorderly persons matters to serious indictable crimes, weapons charges, drug offenses, sexual assault allegations, homicide, federal investigations, and post-conviction proceedings.
How Criminal Evidence Is Evaluated
Direct Evidence Versus Circumstantial Evidence
Direct and circumstantial evidence can both be used to prove a criminal case. The important question is what reasonable conclusions the evidence supports when considered together and whether the State can prove every required element beyond a reasonable doubt.
How Does Discovery Build a Criminal Defense?
Discovery can include police reports, body-worn camera footage, surveillance video, witness statements, laboratory records, photographs, digital evidence, and other material collected during the investigation. Comparing those materials can reveal facts that are not apparent from the written police report alone.
How Can Police Evidence Be Challenged?
Police reports are one source of evidence, not the entire case. Body-camera recordings, video, physical evidence, witness testimony, maps, records, and other objective information can confirm or contradict an officer's account.
Police Did Not Read Miranda Rights. Does That End the Case?
Not necessarily. Miranda generally concerns custodial interrogation and the admissibility of statements. A failure to provide required warnings can create a suppression issue, but it does not automatically dismiss the underlying criminal charge.
Searches, Illegal Evidence, and Suppression
Search-and-seizure issues can determine whether important evidence may be used at trial. These questions require a close review of what officers knew, what they did, and what legal authority permitted the search or seizure.
What Happens With Illegally Obtained Evidence?
Evidence obtained through an unconstitutional search or seizure may be subject to suppression. Whether suppression is available depends on the facts, the legal basis for the police conduct, the connection between the violation and the evidence, and any recognized exceptions.
What Is the Exclusionary Rule?
The exclusionary rule can prevent evidence obtained through unconstitutional government conduct from being used against a defendant. Suppression analysis is fact-specific and can involve standing, warrants, reasonable suspicion, probable cause, consent, exceptions to the warrant requirement, and the relationship between the violation and the evidence.
Appeals and Probation Issues
What Is an Appeal and How Does It Work?
An appeal asks a higher court to review alleged legal error in a lower-court proceeding. Direct appeals ordinarily occur after final judgment, while certain interlocutory rulings may sometimes be reviewed earlier if leave to appeal is granted. Appeals are different from post-conviction relief.
What Happens If You Violate Probation?
The consequences of an alleged probation violation depend on the type of violation, the underlying sentence, the defendant's history, and what the court finds after the violation proceeding. Possible outcomes can include continued probation, modified conditions, sanctions, or resentencing. Learn more about New Jersey probation violations.
Three Principles That Matter Throughout a Criminal Case
What Actually Happened Matters
Police reports are important, but they are not necessarily the complete evidentiary record. Video, witnesses, digital evidence, forensic material, and other records can change how the case looks.
Timing Matters
Statements, detention proceedings, preservation of evidence, motions, appeals, and post-conviction proceedings can all involve time-sensitive decisions.
The Whole Consequence Matters
A criminal resolution can also affect professional licensing, immigration, education, employment, and other proceedings. Those consequences should be identified before a resolution is accepted.
Facing a Criminal Charge or Investigation?
Videos can explain the general process. They cannot evaluate your discovery, police reports, body-camera footage, search warrant, statements, criminal history, or sentencing exposure. If a criminal matter is already underway, speak with counsel about what happens next.
These videos and this page provide general legal information only and do not constitute legal advice or create a lawyer-client relationship. Criminal cases depend on the specific facts, charge, evidence, procedural posture, criminal history, and law applicable to the matter.