Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia
warrant
about 3 months ago i did 30 days in jail and got charged on a felony,conspiracy of break and enter.since ive been out im on probation.and was with a friend and she got in a fight with her dad and moved out when she went to get her stuff i went with her so no problems with the dad,he wasnt there,so iwas waiting at the door for her to get clothes and such,well supposedly she was in fear of her life with her alcoholic dad.but she stole his gun and put it in her trunk and took it to the house her and her mom is staying at,the father knew it had to be her,police went to her house searched the car and found it and recovered it to the father.now i got a warrant out for me!and im on probation,just got a felony,and have court in 10days,but if i go theyll arrest me for this warrant,if i dont ill have another,and if m probation officer wnts to see metheyll get me too.and now i have a baby on the way,and trying to do good with my life,i changed completelybut seems too late.cant even get a job,help
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: warrant
Avoiding the arrest warrant is not going to help you. It will only postpone the issue.
While it probably makes sense to get your ducks in a row before you go in, and try to "control" (legally, in terms of criminal defense) how things go, avoiding the arrest warrant is not going to help you and is going to hurt you.
So you should line up a good criminal defense attorney right away, so he will have time to sort things out, perhaps get an extension of time, and then agree with them that he will walk you in, and walk with you, and make sure everyhing is done right.
From what you describe, you should be able to beat the charge completely.
Being charged is not a problem. Being found guilty would be the problem.
So you don't want to avoid the charge, you want to beat it.
However, I do NOT mean you can simply assume it will fall into place. You need legal help to make SURE it works out and you can beat it.
For example... What your friend says will either save you or kill you.
You need to get her statement locked in. You ought to have an attorney sit down with a court reporter and get her side of the story RIGHT NOW.
I could probably do that much for you, WITHOUT necessarily being your attorney overall. It would be worth you paying an attorney for an hour or two of time plus a court reporter maybe $100 to get her side of the story locked in under oath.
If she changes her story, you're dead.
If someone puts pressure on her, who knows? If someone puts the squeeze on her for some reason, she may feel FORCED to say what they want her to say.
Are there any other witnesses? Even on tangential issues? You need to lock them in, too, before someone starts to pressure them.
Have you been to court before (on this)? If this is the FIRST court date then all that will happen is they will set a court date later for the actual trial.
What County is this in (the charges)/
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