Don’t Panic — Invoke Right to Remain Silent
The first thing to remem­ber is do not panic, and most impor­tantly, do not start to believe that you can “talk your way out” of the prob­lem by sub­mit­ting to inter­ro­ga­tion by law enforce­ment offi­cers. Invoke your right to remain silent and tell offi­cers that you are request­ing an attor­ney, and will not speak to them with­out an attor­ney present.

Release Arrange­ments — Post­ing Bail
In a state pros­e­cu­tion, bail may be arranged through a bail agent, or bail bonds­man. The bail agent will charge a pre­mium of 10 %, i.e., you will have to pay $10,000 to post bail and be released if your bail is set at $100,000. In many cases it will be best to defer bail­ing out until you have requested a bail reduc­tion or own recog­ni­zance release from the court. Your attor­ney should be able to help you make this motion. As part of the process, you may be inter­viewed by a pre­trial offi­cer. You should dis­cuss the advis­abil­ity of speak­ing to the pre­trial offi­cer with your attor­ney. Although you may have to remain in cus­tody for a few more days, you can save money on your pre­mium by first obtain­ing a bail reduc­tion. Of course, if the court releases you on your own recog­ni­zance (“OR”), you will not have to pay any bail premium.

Jail Talk is not Con­fi­den­tial — Don’t Obstruct Jus­tice
Be care­ful what you say as you await release at the jail. Remem­ber that your tele­phone calls and social vis­its are being recorded. Do not talk about the case. Do not obstruct jus­tice or attempt to influ­ence a wit­ness. Your attor­ney will be able to visit you in a con­fi­den­tial set­ting. Also, do not talk about your case with your cell mate or oth­ers at the jail. Inmates can act as infor­mants, and what you say could be com­mu­ni­cated to law enforcement.

Retain Qual­i­fied Coun­sel
Lastly, and impost impor­tant, retain qual­i­fied legal coun­sel. Talk­ing to attor­neys rec­om­mended by friends and fam­ily is a good start­ing point. Pay par­tic­u­lar atten­tion to attor­neys rec­om­mended by friends/family who work in the court sys­tem, as they may be most famil­iar with an attorney’s rep­u­ta­tion. Also, check the State Bar web­site list­ing Board Cer­ti­fied Crim­i­nal Law Experts. Be aware of attor­neys who will tell you what you want to hear merely to get their fee. Make sure the attor­ney gives you a copy of your writ­ten fee agree­ment, and that you are com­fort­able with and under­stand the agreement.

Dis­claimer: The legal infor­ma­tion pre­sented at this site should not be con­strued to be for­mal legal advice. Any results set forth here were depen­dent on the facts of that case and the results will dif­fer from case to case. Please con­tact Tim War­riner, Esq. for legal advice spe­cific to your sit­u­a­tion. This web site is not intended to solicit clients for rep­re­sen­ta­tion in crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings out­side of the State of Cal­i­for­nia, except for those mat­ters pros­e­cuted in U.S. Fed­eral Courts. Tim War­riner, Esq. is a licensed Cal­i­for­nia attor­ney. The infor­ma­tion con­tained in this web site is gen­eral in nature. It is pro­vided for infor­ma­tional, illus­tra­tive and adver­tise­ment pur­poses only. It is not legal advice. It should not be relied upon in mak­ing legal deci­sions or in place of a con­sul­ta­tion with an expe­ri­enced and knowl­edge­able attor­ney regard­ing a spe­cific mat­ter. Read­ing this site, send­ing us infor­ma­tion, or receipt of infor­ma­tion from us does not estab­lish an attor­ney — client rela­tion­ship. Our review of, and/or response to, your query does not mean that we are rep­re­sent­ing you or that we are your lawyers. State­ments, tes­ti­mo­ni­als and endorse­ments con­tained herein do not con­sti­tute a guar­an­tee, war­ranty, or pre­dic­tion regard­ing the ulti­mate result or out­come of your legal mat­ter. Links from this web site to the web site of another entity does not state or imply the exis­tence of a rela­tion­ship between Tim War­riner, Esq. and that entity. A writ­ten, signed retainer agree­ment is a pre­req­ui­site for Tim War­riner, Esq. to rep­re­sent you.