Missouri Criminal Defense Legal Questions

It sounds like you need to hire a lawyer. If the building was not public then the search of your vehicle was likely justified by using trespass as their probable cause. Seizure of the vehicle and property was likely related to the burglary and stealing charges. Without knowing more it is hard for me to give a definitive answer. Right now the courts are very backed up due to COVID, so it's not surprising that they haven't passed the charges on to a prosecutor yet. It will make its way there though.  In the mean time, you need to find an hire a lawyer so that you can challenge any search and seizure they conducted as well as get hold of the incident reports to determine what other defenses you may have. Many attorney's will do this for a flat fee. If you can't afford an attorney you should definitely look into getting a public defender as soon as possible. They are very overworked, but they are all good attorneys. Best of luck to you. ... Read More

You will need to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney to represent you if you want to get your theft charge dismissed or reduced to a lesser offense, like "Littering." It depends a lot on which court your case is being prosecuted in, your criminal history, and what they accused you of stealing, but it's very likely that your attorney could get this taken care of without you having to appear in court.... Read More

Police don't have to read you your rights, even if they arrest you. The only reason they read you your rights is if they want to interrogate you while in police custody and use your testimony against you in court. If they feel like there is no question about what happened and they don't see any reason they will need to interrogate you about the incident, they won't bother reading you your rights. They can always do it later if they question you while in police custody. Courts regularly issue warrants when a defendant fails to show up for court or fails to pay a fine for a traffic ticket. Did the judge recall your warrant and then say your case was dismissed? Or did the judge recall the warrant and give you a new court date so you could take care of the traffic ticket? Just because the judge recalled the warrant doesn't mean the judge thought the warrant was bad. Judges regularly recall warrants and give the defendant a new court date. I don't know why you were arrested again on September 5th unless you failed to show up for the new court date for the traffic ticket, or if you had a separate warrant for something else. You can hire an attorney to get your traffic violation reduced to a non-moving, no-point infraction that won't affect your driving record or insurance rates. You will have to pay a fine and court costs, but you most likely won't have to appear in court.... Read More

Your friend could be charged with displaying plates of another vehicle and failure to register a vehicle. If the car is not insured, he could also be charged with driving without insurance (which is common in this type of situation). Driving without insurance is a 4-point ticket, and if he gets into an accident while driving an uninsured car, his driver's license would be suspended until he pays for all the damages that he is responsible for. Failure to register and displaying plates of another vehicle are non-moving, no-point violations, but he risks getting repeated tickets for those violations every day if he continues to drive an unregistered car using someone else's plates. Police cars have license plate readers to check for stolen cars, so he could easily get pulled over if they see that the plates don't match the car or that the car is not registered.... Read More

If you are 17 years old, you are considered an adult for court purposes, so your case will be prosecuted in the same court as adults are prosecuted. Even 16-year-olds can be prosecuted in regular "adult" court if the prosecutor chooses to do so because the crime is serious. If instead your case is prosecuted in juvenile court, you will most likely be placed on probation and there will be certain conditions of probation that you will have to obey. A restraining order (or order of protection) is for a specific person and will state that if you get within a certain distance of the person (or their house, place of employment, etc.), they can call the police and have you arrested and taken to jail for violating the order of protection. Anyone who wants a restraining order can call the court to see if they have forms that they can fill out to request a hearing with the judge to ask for the restraining order, or they can hire an attorney to request the hearing.... Read More

It is very unlikely that the Prosecutor will agree to dismiss your charges in this situation. It is very common for several people in a vehicle to all be charged with possession of drugs because of "constructive possession," which means the court assumes that you all had knowledge of the drugs and all had access to it, so everyone gets charged. Often, one person in the car will try to take responsibility for the drugs so their friends don't get charged, but that rarely works. In your case, you are taking the brunt of it because you and your friend put everything in your purse. If your friend confessed to police now that the drugs belonged to her, all that would happen is that your friend would also be charged with drug possession, but your charges would not be dismissed. You were charged with possession of drugs (not being under the influence of drugs), so it won't matter if you pass a drug test. Luckily, there is no possibility of jail time for a charge of "Under 10 grams of marijuana." I recommend that you hire an attorney as soon as possible to represent you if you want to get your drug charges dismissed or reduced to a lesser offense, such as "Littering." You can hire an attorney to represent you and you might not have to appear in court at all. The outcome of your case depends on which court your case is in and your criminal history. If your case is being prosecuted in state circuit court and you can't afford to hire an attorney, you can contact the public defender's office in that county to see if you qualify for a public defender to represent you. Public defenders don't represent people in most municipal courts in Missouri, so if your case is being prosecuted in a municipal court, you will have to hire a private criminal defense attorney to represent you.... Read More

No. All that matters is that the Prosecutor filed charges before the statute of limitations expired. It doesn't matter that they got your last name wrong. The Prosecutor or the police officer can correct any errors at any time, up to and including the first day of trial. That is not enough to be able to get the charges dismissed.... Read More

The outcome of your friend's cases depends on which court the cases are being prosecuted in. The maximum potential penalty is 1 year in jail and a $2,000 fine for a class A misdemeanor possession of marijuana or drug paraphernalia. For a first-time class D misdemeanor possession of marijuana (under 10 grams) or first-time drug paraphernalia charge, the maximum fine is $500 and no jail time. You don't want to plead guilty to drug charges because having a drug-related conviction on your criminal record can prevent you from getting a job, renting an apartment, or getting a loan. I suggest that you hire an attorney to get the drug charges dismissed or reduced to a lesser offense, such as "Littering."... Read More

It's good that she was not arrested. Her parents will need to hire a criminal defense attorney to represent her in court. The attorney can get the shoplifting charge dismissed or reduced to a lesser offense, such as "Littering." In my experience with shoplifting cases, often my clients never have to appear in court at all. The fines & costs associated with this will depend on which court her case is being prosecuted in, her age, her criminal history, and other specific details of her case. If you are interested in getting a price quote for legal representation, you can email me the name of the court (court name & address are listed on the citation the police gave her) and I can give you a price quote and estimate of the fine & court costs.... Read More

I recommend that you hire a criminal defense attorney to represent you for your drug paraphernalia charge. Depending on your criminal history and which court your case is being prosecuted in, your attorney may be able to get the ticket dismissed or amended to a lesser offense, such as "Littering." Police must have a reason to pull over a car, and then they can legally search the car without the driver's consent if they smell marijuana or if they claim that you seemed nervous, refused to answer questions, or any number of other excuses. Doesn't matter that the car didn't belong to you. Also, police officer does not have to give you a ticket for driving without a license,even if you were. It's the officer's decision regarding what tickets to issue, and then it's up to the Prosecutor to decide to file charges. The Prosecuting Attorney has up to 1 year (for misdemeanors) from the date of the incident to file charges against you, so they could still end up filing a charge against you for driving without a license if they want.... Read More

Yes, it's possible for a stealing charge to be dismissed, but you will have to go to trial, which can be expensive. In general, all stores have security cameras and "loss prevention" personnel who will testify against you at trial, stating that they saw you stealing. I suggest that you consult with an experienced criminal defense attorney to find out how strong your case is and whether it's worth the added expense of taking it to trial. It may be in your best interest to have your attorney negotiate a plea bargain deal with the Prosecutor to get your stealing charges dismissed or reduced to a lesser offense without going to trial. The outcome of your case depends a lot on the specific details of your case, what the police report says, your criminal history, which court your case is being prosecuted in, and how experienced your attorney is in handling stealing charges.... Read More

There is a new law in Missouri that states that there is no jail time possible for anyone charged with first-time offense of stealing under $150. However, if this is your 2nd offense, then that new law does not apply to you and so there is the possibility of you being sentence to the maximum 1 year in jail and $1,000 fine. I have never heard of anyone going to jail for even a 2nd shoplifting offense if you have an experienced attorney representing you, but it just depends on which court your case is being prosecuted in. I have experienced some courts in Missouri in which the judge requires 2 days in jail for a first-offense minor shoplifting offense. If you go to court on your own and plead guilty without an attorney representing you, you risk having the judge sentence you to 1-2 days in jail, and you will definitely end up with a conviction for stealing on your permanent criminal record, which can prevent you from getting a job, renting an apartment, obtaining a loan, or getting federal student aid for college. I highly recommend that you hire an experienced criminal defense attorney to get your shoplifting charge dismissed or reduced to a lesser offense, such as "Littering."... Read More

First, don't take legal advice from a police officer. You will definitely have to hire an attorney to represent you if you want to avoid having a conviction on your criminal record. In some courts, I am able to convince the Prosecutor to amend a charge such as yours to "Littering"but it just depends on your criminal history, which court your case is being prosecuted in, and the details found in the police report.... Read More

If the police officer handed you a summons, that means you have been charged. You will probably not also receive a summons in the mail as long as the ticket the police officer gave you states the court date and time. You need to either show up on the court date to answer to the charges or hire an attorney to represent you.... Read More

If you received a ticket and you don't go to court on your court date, and you don't hire an attorney to handle this for you, the court will issue a warrant for your arrest. An experienced traffic ticket lawyer can lift the warrant for you (depending on which court this is in) and represent you for the ticket. FYI - In addition to issuing a warrant, the court may have also suspended your driver's license because you failed to appear in court.... Read More