Facts from McKinney & Collin County Criminal Defense Lawyer

What You Need To Know—Being Detained or Arrested

If you have been arrested or are a suspect in a crime in Collin County, criminal defense lawyer Will Underwood offers this information to help you understand the events you may be experiencing.

Detained

You can be detained without being arrested if the police suspect that you are or were recently engaged in criminal activity or that you might be armed.  For example, the police may ask you to identify yourself and may conduct a limited search for weapons if they observe you pacing in front of a closed store in the dark.

Searched

Ordinarily, the police must have a search warrant before conducting a search.  However, after you have been arrested, the police may search you and the immediate area around you without a warrant if they reasonably suspect that you may be armed.   A search is also permitted when the police see contraband at the time of making an arrest.  If the police find something that is illegal to possess, such as a gun, a knife, or a drug, they may confiscate it and arrest you for possessing it.  The police may also take your money and property from you to keep in a safe place until it can be returned to you or used as evidence.

Taken into custody

After the arrest, you are brought before a judge to be formally charged with a crime and provided an opportunity to be released while awaiting trial.  You might be required to post bail, or you may be released on your promise to appear in court.  The judge considers various factors, such as the seriousness of the crime with which you have been charged and prior criminal history, when deciding whether to require bail.  Bail is money or other property deposited with the court to ensure that you appear for your trial.  Once bail has been deposited with the court, you are released from custody and await trial.

Released from custody

After you have been arrested, you may be taken into custody and brought to a detention facility.   At the detention facility, your arrest is registered into police records and you may be fingerprinted and photographed.  After you have been taken into custody, you, your family, friends, or your lawyer can make arrangements for your release while you await trial.

If you are confined in a detention facility, it may be anywhere from several hours to a couple of days before you appear before a judge who can consider releasing you.  Do your best to stay calm and do not discuss the circumstances of the alleged crime with others.  Any statements you make may be reported to the police and used against you in subsequent proceedings.

Still have questions?

Contact McKinney, Texas criminal defense lawyer William Underwood today

If you have been arrested or are a suspect in a crime, this is not the time to get your legal advice from a friend or relative who happens to be a lawyer, unless they are a criminal defense lawyer with a career history of proven success.  Your future hangs in the balance.  This is the time to protect it with the right choice—McKinney criminal lawyer Will Underwood.  Why trust your court case and your future to anyone but one of the few McKinney criminal defense lawyers with a lifetime winning rate better than 84 percent?

Just as all plumbers or doctors are not the same, neither are all Collin County criminal defense attorneys or law firms equally capable of plumbing the depths of the evidence and incisively cutting into a prosecutor's case against you.  As the record shows, Will Underwood at the Underwood Law Office is your best choice for exceptional legal counsel and trial representation in the Texas counties of Collin, Denton, Dallas, and Grayson.  Protect your rights.  Call Will today at 214-544-8040 or contact us online.