Penalties & Prosecutors in Rockville Criminal Cases

When you are charged with a crime in Rockville, Maryland it is important to understand two things. First, it is important to understand how serious the prosecutors will take your case. Second, it is important to understand the kinds of penalties that will accompany a conviction. If you are unsure contact a Rockville criminal attorney who will be able to explain what you are facing and how to proceed.

Prosecutors in Rockville Cases

Misdemeanor and felony offenses are usually handled on a docket where many other cases are going to be handled and resolved. Young prosecutors use misdemeanors as an opportunity to learn about criminal procedure and how to prosecute. On the felony level, prosecutors who are handling the cases or assign them have a great deal more experience.

The prosecutors that handle misdemeanor cases are usually very young prosecutors; they’re usually a few years out from law school and are using misdemeanor offenses as a way to train on criminal procedure and in constitutional principles that apply in these cases as well.

Prosecutors that are assigned to felony cases are prosecutors that have been in the attorney’s office for many, many years, sometimes for their entire careers. They understand the individual nuances of criminal law as well and prosecutors at felony levels to focus their attention on a particular kind of case and a particular area as opposed to younger, misdemeanor-level prosecutors.

Penalties and Consequences of Misdemeanor Cases

Consequences of misdemeanor offenses usually shouldn’t be very long term. Most of the time misdemeanor offenses, particularly if they’re isolated, can be expunged from that person’s record after the person has completed certain conditions. But in the short term consequences could include jail time, periods of supervised probation for up to three years, and a criminal conviction on a person’s record.

Whether that impacts somebody’s security clearance or not really is dependent on the clearance granting body. Security clearances aren’t as general a term as people think they are. What security clearance means is that every individual employer who is seeking out a clearance has certain parameters that they want to know about for their employees. For example if a person was working for a bus company then DUIs being on their background might have an impact on their ability to obtain that employment because they’d be driving as a part of their job, because that might be a risk issue for the company.

If somebody was charged with prescription fraud and they were applying to be a doctor, they might have some issues because doctors are handling prescriptions all the time and so their trustworthiness in that area is important as well. When it comes to security clearance, it’s really no different. Every employer has different parameters for what does and does not constitute a violation of that clearance and will take the appropriate action as necessary.