Resisting Arrest - Legal Representation
Let's say the worst happens and you've just been charged with an underlying offense and resisting arrest. Who should you hire to represent you and defend you against the resisting arrest charges? Instinctually, you might turn to a criminal defense attorney.
If you were physically injured or hurt while taken into custody, resisting arrest or not, you would be half-right. In addition to securing a criminal defense attorney to help you fight the resisting arrest charge directly, you should also consider hiring a civil rights lawyer to handle your resisting arrest case under the Civil Rights Act.
If you're facing resisting arrest charges, here's what both a criminal defense attorney and civil rights lawyer can do for you:
Criminal Defense Attorney -- Your criminal defense attorney will actually defend
you against the resisting arrest and other underlying criminal charges.
A criminal defense attorney will guide you through the resisting arrest charges
by representing you in criminal court and / or negotiating with prosecutors on
your behalf. Their goal is to help keep you out of jail and keep a resisting
arrest charge off of your criminal record.
Civil Rights Lawyer -- If you beat the original criminal resisting arrest charges, you might have grounds to file a case under the Civil Rights Act. A civil rights lawyer would handle this type of resisting arrest case if the arresting officer used excessive force or if the arrest wasn't lawful to begin with.
Civil rights lawyers get involved when you become the victim of civil rights violations in the officers' attempt to arrest you. If you're found guilty of resisting arrest in criminal court, whether by an admission or after trial, you likely won't be able to file a civil rights complaint against the police.
You can protect yourself by not resisting arrest to begin with, but in cases where you're forced to defend yourself hiring a civil rights lawyer can be your best recourse. While most resisting arrest charges are legitimate, you have a right to protect yourself when they're not. That extends to protecting yourself in court with the right kind of representation depending on the circumstances of your resisting arrest case.
By hiring both a criminal defense attorney and a civil rights lawyer to represent you in resisting arrest cases, you not only have a better chance of finding justice but also of protecting others from similar misdeeds and hyped-up resisting arrest charges. While most arrests are lawful, it does the legal system a real disservice to let trumped up resisting arrest charges stand while civil rights are being violated. If it happened to you, it could happen to others facing future resisting arrest charges as an excuse for excessive force as well.
If you've been charged with resisting arrest, now is the time to seek assistance from a qualified criminal defense attorney and civil rights lawyer. Don't wait. If you do, you might end up with resisting arrest charges on your permanent record and others might continue to have their civil rights violated in a system that wasn't kept in check.