Many times the best defense for criminal charges in Michigan begins with challenging the conduct of the police who arrested you. With a statewide practice, including Lansing, Detroit, Kalamazoo and the Upper Peninsula, our Michigan criminal defense attorneys have seen police make the same mistakes over and over again.
Highway patrols might stop you for drunk driving without sufficient reason. Law enforcement might search your home for evidence of drug possession without a warrant. Detectives might question you about felony charges without reading you your rights.Each of these mistakes can lead to police evidence collected being thrown out. Because your freedom and your future must not be compromised by police error, our top Michigan criminal defense lawyers are committed to determining where police have made mistakes and using these errors to your advantage.
At Grabel & Associates we take mistakes very seriously. Your freedom must not be jeopardized by sloppy police work and overzealous police officers violating your rights in an attempt to find evidence of a crime. Sometime these errors are simple mistakes other times they are an attempt by unscrupulous law enforcement to pin a crime on you. Whatever the reason, our Michigan criminal defense law firm is ready to fight back. By seeking and winning motions to suppress, our aggressive Michigan criminal trial attorneys have been able to keep police and prosecutors from using evidence gathered improperly against you. This can lead to charges being thrown out or reduced.
Police officers may make a variety of mistakes, including constitutional errors, procedural errors and human errors.
One of the biggest mistakes police officers can make which courts take very seriously is violating an individual’s constitutional rights. With many protections set forth in the Bill of Rights, the constitution places a vital role in each step of the criminal law process and failure to abide by the guiding principles of the constitution may lead to the complete dismissal of the charges against you.
From drunk driving stops to searches for evidence of drugs or weapons, if police don’t follow proper procedures evidence obtained can be thrown out. Common constitutional violations include:
If a police officer stops you without a “reasonable suspicion” that you have committed a crime then any evidence collected from that stop may be tossed out. Sometimes called a “Terry stop,” based on the landmark case Terry v. Ohio, police may only stop a person on the street if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime as well as a reasonable belief that the person may be “armed and dangerous.” Further, if the stop lasts longer than necessary to determine if you were involved in criminal activity, any evidence collected from the stop may be challenged.
The definition of what is an unreasonable search and seizure depends on the facts of each case, but generally police cannot detain individuals without probable cause, and police are prohibited from searching a person’s property where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. In the situation of a drunk driving arrest this means that police need to have a reason to stop your vehicle. By challenging the stop itself it may be possible to get charges dropped.
Called a “Miranda Warning” or your “Miranda Rights,” police officers must give all criminal suspects in police custody notice of their constitutional right to remain silent and their right to legal counsel before they are interrogated. Police may not ask you about anything other than your basic information without reading you your rights, and if they do, anything you say may later be suppressed. If police do read you your rights, it is important to exercise those rights, especially the right to remain silent until you have a lawyer present.
If police continue to question you after you’ve expressed your right to remain silent, any information obtained after you requested an attorney may be suppressed.
If police violate any of your constitutional rights it may be possible for an experienced Michigan criminal defense lawyer to file a motion to suppress. If the motion is successful, any evidence obtained during an improper search or seizure may be thrown out and not used against you.
At the law office of Grabel & Associates, our knowledgeable Michigan criminal defense attorneys understand the importance of the Constitution and when police conduct violates your rights. We have years of experience successfully challenging police conduct and protecting the rights of our clients.
In addition to constitutional errors, many times police officers are guilty of “human error.” Unfortunately, when police officers make errors, your liberty may be at stake. Examples of common errors include situations where police fail to correctly administer tests. For example, drunk driving charges may be based on a police officer’s interpretation of a roadside sobriety test. If the officer fails to administer the test correctly or properly interpret an individual’s test performance, an experienced criminal defense attorney can use flaws in how the test was conducted to your benefit. Likewise the reliability of blood and breath tests depends on the accuracy with which they are administered. Where law enforcement officers fail to administer a test correctly, or ensure that the test equipment is properly calibrated, an experienced criminal defense attorney in Michigan can discredit the evidenced introduced.
Many times the first line of defense is to evaluate the police conduct that led to an arrest or criminal charges. Where police have acted improperly an experienced Michigan criminal defense law firm can point out those mistakes and fight to get charges dismissed or reduced. At Grabel & Associates, our aggressive criminal defense lawyers have a proven track record of vigorously challenging all the evidence presented by the police in an effort to secure the best possible outcome in your case.
Wherever you are in Michigan, call us toll free, 24 hours a day, at 1-800-342-7896 or contact our offices by email to arrange a free consultation with trial attorney Scott Grabel today.