JAREMCHUK LAW

Being charged with a criminal offence can have serious repercussions on your employment, travel and family life. Being convicted of a criminal offence can result in jail, fines or probation.

A criminal conviction for even minor offences such as such as Impaired Driving , Over 80, or simple drug possession will prohibit entry into the United States. This can have a serious impact on employment. Convictions for more serious offences such as fraud, theft, or assault may result in periods of custody. There may be options for you to explore: you may have a defense against the charge, or the prosecution may not have the evidence to prove their case. When appropriate, having a seasoned lawyer negotiate a fair guilty plea can be a mitigating factor in sentencing. A knowledgeable and experienced lawyer can help you and your family determine the best course of action and guide you through a complex justice system in order to achieve the most positive outcomes possible.

Everyone is presumed innocent and entitled to reasonable bail on reasonable conditions. There are several factors that affect whether or not your friend or family member may be released on bail.

The first issue is the seriousness of the offence and if the accused has a prior criminal record.

When deciding on whether or not to grant bail, the courts ask the following questions:

• If released, what is the likelihood that the accused would commit another offence?
• Would the accused be able to abide by the conditions set out for bail?
• Would the accused show up for court or would they try to flee the jurisdiction?

With an offence of a disturbing nature, would the community be outraged if a specific individual with a particular history was released into the community?

It is important to go forward into a bail hearing with a solid plan to meet these concerns.

Once a bail hearing is completed, and bail denied, courts are reluctant to revisit the issue unless there are significant developments to consider in terms of evidence.

Your defence may seem straight forward and logical to you, especially when you know that you are innocent of the charges. Unfortunately, the justice system is a complex bureaucracy with layers of technical procedures required for presentation of motions, evidence and witnesses. A technical misstep could cost you your freedom.

Given that you have a huge personal investment and emotional involvement in the outcome, it can be hard to be objective and see the big picture. The ability to apprehend the evidence and objectively recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the crown’s case is key. This is important not only in determining a first course of action, but in responding to events as they unfold during the course of a trial. An experienced lawyer has extensive knowledge of your Charter rights, the law, rules and procedure of the court and understands how to use them to your best advantage.

The system can seem slow and there are many factors that can affect how the process unfolds. You may believe that accepting responsibility and pleading guilty to the charge(s) may help to ‘get it over with quickly’ and feel like the right thing to do.

However, it is important to wait until all the evidence against you (disclosure) is released from the police and the crown so that your lawyer can determine the strength of the case against you.

An experienced lawyer may be able to negotiate with the crown to downgrade /drop the charges or divert the issue provided that certain condition s are met.

Depending on the complexity of the situation, it can take time for disclosure to be collected if there are video, phone or internet records to be obtained or search warrants to be challenged.

If you choose to plead guilty, it can take up to a month for the process to be completed. For a summary conviction offences, it can take six months or more to schedule a trial.

For an Indictable offence, it can take anywhere from approximately a year to a year and half to schedule a trial date, again, depending on the complexity of the issues.

Criminal Lawyers charge an hourly rate plus disbursements and require a retainer (deposit) to begin acting on your behalf.

Once you have retained a lawyer, their time will be docketed to include review of all disclosure materials; interviews with sureties and witnesses; discussions/negotiations with the Crown; research

and trial preparation; all court appearances; etc.

Police do not normally investigate on behalf of those charged. This means that it may be necessary to contract private investigators, forensic testing and/or expert witnesses in order to mount an effective defense.

You will be required to cover the costs of these specialized disbursements.

Any such ‘investigative’ disbursements would have to be authorized by the client prior to being initiated. It

is not always easy to predict the cost of criminal court proceeding as new issues may arise as the matter unfolds: new evidence, witnesses or charges may surface during the course of proceedings that have an impact on the course of action and time required, including the actual length of the trial.

Your initial retainer may or may not cover the entire cost of the proceedings and may need to be reviewed during the course of your defense.

Legal aid is available to those who meet their financial eligibility criteria, but only for some types of criminal charges.