Our Approach to Criminal Cases in Montgomery County

Criminal offenses in Montgomery County, Maryland can carry a number of severe penalties including fines and jail time. As a result if you have been accused of a crime it is important you hire the best attorney for you and your case. Below, Montgomery County criminal lawyer Kush Arora discusses how he approaches criminal defense and what questions he typically gets from potential clients. To learn more or discuss your case call and schedule a free consultation today.

Some of the initial questions that I ask a client are obviously what they remember happening from their perspective and not from the police’s perspective. Many clients come into the office right away and give us information about what is in the police report, how they disagree with what is in the police report or agree with it. I always say to clients, “I would rather hear what you have to say about what took place and compare that information with what the police officer says in the report so that I can determine where the holes are and where the most investigation needs to take place to try and clarify those particular discrepancies in the versions of the events.” So that is one of the first things I tell the clients.

The second thing I would like to know from a client is whether or not they actually gave the officer any kind of a statement in this case because sometimes a confession from the client can be enough to  patch up any holes in the government’s case and really solidify a conviction against the client.

So understanding whether or not my client gave a confession is important and then understanding what the circumstances were under which he gave his confession to the police is also important because there are voluminous rules and tons of cases that support the suppression of a confession unlawfully taken by the police or that were in some way coerced or wrongfully solicited from an individual. The value in the case for those kinds of statements becomes important in trying to potentially keep those confessions or statements out of the evidence against my client.

What Questions Do Clients Typically Ask?

Clients always want to know right off the bat what the worst case scenario is. I try and tell my clients that understanding the worst case scenario can be difficult at the early stages of the case particularly because when we get reports from the police officer it only offers one perspective on what took place. Obviously if we are looking at that report it is very easy for somebody to say to themselves, “Well, the state government has a case against me and I am probably going to be convicted.”
On the contrary. Most of the times there is far more to a case than just what is in the police officer’s report. Realizing that and understanding exactly what took place and having a full understanding of the case before advising my clients on exactly what is going to happen is a huge part of my initial conversation with a client.
Sometimes I get asked a great question by my clients, which is, “What can I do to make the situation better in the meantime?” That is a great question from clients because what that means is that the client is really willing to try and take on whatever damage control I feel is necessary to minimize the damage that might be have been by the facts of the case against them.
For example, if a crime or criminal act that is alleged was alcohol motivated the client participating in an alcohol program is going to be helpful.
If it is drug motivated certainly participating in a drug program is helpful. These are the kinds of things that clients ask about very early on in our representation of them and that really does help to show just how seriously they are taking their situation.