If you or a loved one has been arrested and accused of committing a crime in New York City, the first thing you need to do is obtain legal counsel from a skilled criminal defense attorney. We strongly recommend you do this prior to your arraignment, in which formal charges are filed. State law requires that a defendant be arraigned within 24 hours of his or her arrest. As your arraignment is commonly the first court appearance and is where the charges against you will be read, as well as the point at which you will be asked to make a plea, it is in your best interests to ensure that have an attorney present.
A criminal defense attorney from our firm will sit down with you prior to your arraignment to review the charges against you, answer any questions you may have, advise you on how to proceed and help you with every detail of the arraignment. No evidence will be presented during arraignment, but any delay in retaining legal representation could have a potentially disastrous impact on your immediate freedom. Without having an attorney present at arraignment, at which point bail may also be set, you may be unable to return home, and remain in custody if the bail is too high. Our firm will fight hard to see that your rights are protected and that you are not subjected to an unreasonable amount of bail, or unjustly held rather than being released to your home and family during the course of your trial. We will do everything possible to see that you are either released on your own recognizance or released on bail. Your plea, if guilty, cannot be altered, whereas if you plead not guilty, you may have better options.
At H. Benjamin Perez & Associates, P.C., we know how frightening and confusing the justice system is to the accused, particularly to individuals who are facing first time charges, or are accused of a serious felony offense. The NYC criminal lawyers at our firm have more than 20 years combined experience defending the rights of individuals accused of a range of crimes in New York City. We are dedicated to protecting our clients' rights and we work diligently to give our clients the best chance to fight back successfully. Contact our firm at once so that we can help you through the process, including representing you at the arraignment. Your freedom could depend upon it.