Michigan Criminal Defense Legal Questions

The prosecutor calls the witnesses the prosecution wants, and defense counsel calls the witnesses the defense wants. The defense can ask the prosecution to serve subpoenas on witnesses. Police will be there if the prosecutor wants them there, or if you subpoena them. There used to be a "res gestae witness" rule that required the prosecutor to call anyone who qualified as that type of witness, but now the prosecutor only has to list the potential witnesses known to them, and the defense decides which of those witnesses to call.... Read More

If you did not already admit that you were driving, do not do so. If you did admit to driving, you have no viable defense to leaving the scene of an accident (the only viable defense I know of is that you needed to leave to get medical treatment, bring someone else for medical treatment, clear debris from the road, etc). You still have a defense to driving while intoxicated. They have no evidence you were intoxicated at the time of the driving, unless you confess to it.... Read More

Consensual sex between two people is legal in Michigan provided that both parties are 16 or over. Photos or videos of nudity or sex require that the people be 18 or over. If it is unclear that the mother was over or under 16, there is a chance you could be prosecuted, but they would have to prove that she was under 16 to have a case. You may still have an obligation for child support. The only rules regarding age gap apply only if one of the parties is under 16.... Read More

Driving while intoxicated (under the influence) is a misdemeanor that can involve jail, fines, costs, probation, counseling, routine drug testing, etc. It can also lead to drivers license suspension. This is not just a ticket you can pay, or should pay. Try to get the charge reduced by a plea bargain and if you cannot, you might have to go to trial.... Read More

He can be charged. He has a good chance at winning at a trial, or he might make a deal for HYTA or 7411 which results in no conviction if he completes probation successfully. At first glance this looks like a case to go to trial, but I would have to see all the reports and talk to the defendant first.... Read More

The reading of rights is required only for custodial questioning. If you are not in custody at the time of the questioning, no rights need to be read. If they were supposed to read rights but did not do so, the only remedy is to suppress from evidence your statement to police. If they have other evidence beyond your statement to police the prosecution against you can continue.... Read More

If, on the court date, you are locked in a different jail, you may have that jail contact the court. If you are in the hospital, you may have the hospital contact the court. If you are dead, your relatives may have the county medical examiner contact the court. If those do not apply, then it might not be true that you "can't" make the court date. Instead, it looks like you are giving a higher priority to something else you would rather do than attend court. That usually does not work out well for the defendant. Judges consider your duty to the court as much more important than other ways of spending your time. That is especially true when a person appears on a bench warrant, which might be seen as showing that you blew off your duty to attend court last time. Repeated failures to attend are treated more harshly than a single failure to attend. You can try to get your lawyer to change the court date. That is not certain to work but it could be tried. Even better, you could actually attend court on the date you were ordered to attend. Good luck.... Read More