QUESTION
Can an attorney help for my upcoming criminal trial for sale of meth?
Asked on Nov 10th, 2010 on Criminal Law - Tennessee
More details to this question:
I have no idea what to expect, I am a mother of six and need an attorney willing to set up payments. Also I have no transportation making this even more difficult. I was set up by a former friend to purchase a gram of meth in Millington and when I made purchase they arrested me on the spot, I was not in my vehicle but the seized it. I stayed in Mill jail for eight days with a 50,000 bond until I went before their judge and he lowered my bond to 5,000. Then because it was a felony charge it was bound over to Memphis. My charge is possession of meth W/I man/sell/del. I have never been in any trouble besides a few driving on suspended licenses charges in Tipton County(they are taken care of) I want to know what to expect and to please find a lawyer I am going CRAZY with worry.
2 ANSWERS
William C. Gosnell
You could have set up a payment plan if you started when you got arrested. But if you have already been indicted you may have waited too long A $2500.00 retainer plus a payment plan would be average This carries 8 to 12 years first offense.
Answered on Apr 27th, 2011 at 6:49 AM
1 Award
Yes, an attorney can help you with your case. I think that the first thing that you need to do is decide if you want an attorney to take the case to trial or do you want an attorney to try and reach the best settlement possible for you. My firm sets our fees depending on whether we anticipate going to trial as opposed to just trying to reach the best settlement. Obviously, the best settlement is the cheaper option with respect to attorneys fees.
Since you are the mother of six, I would think that your biggest concern is whether you will have a criminal record for the rest of your life. If you are convicted of either a felony charge or a misdemeanor charge, you will have a permanent criminal record. I would suggest that you have an attorney look into whether you are eligible for diversion. If you are eligible for diversion, you would have to do, in essence, probation, but at the end of the probation period, your charge would be expunged and you would not be a convicted felon. That program would require random drug tests, however, so if you are not going to be able to pass drug tests for an extended period of time, diversion is not a realistic option for you.
My office will set up a payment program under certain circumstances. In order to do that, though, we need to get about one-half of the fee up front.
Answered on Nov 11th, 2010 at 10:28 AM