On a felon you need an attorney whatever you think the outcome might be. If you can afford it you should hire a good certified criminal law specialist. It should not cost that much for this kind of case unless you wanted to argue that you are innocent or the search was illegal.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/10/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Any time you are charged with a felony you need an attorney. An attorney may keep you out of state prison or at least take time off the time you are there. How much money is staying out of prison worth to you? Your attorney can see if you qualify for a P.C. 1000 diversion or prop. 36 program. Public defenders are attorneys. The main difference is that they carry a much larger case load than most private attorneys. With a smaller case load they should give your case more attention.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/9/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

As a criminal defense lawyer I always say that a person charged with a crime should hire a lawyer because I have seen situations where having a private lawyer has returned better results. However with that being said you will have a public defender and you should be eligible for Prop 36 or PC 1000 which is diversion. You should understand however that PC 1000 and Prop 36 are intensive programs that require that you attend several meetings a week, drug test each week and go to court frequently. If you give a dirty test you can be jailed for a few days each time. If you can live with that without wishing that you had fought it and tried to get the case dismissed then you can get by with a public defender. I hope everything works out for you.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/8/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Any time you are charged with a felony case, you should hire an attorney if you can afford to do so. There is a very good reason why the court assigns you an attorney if you can't afford one. There may be any number of ways to defend you against these charges that would not put you in the sometimes onerous position of having to complete DEJ or Prop 36. Most criminal defense attorneys, including myself, will initially consult with you about your matter for free. You can then get a sense of how much it would cost to hire that person and get a better understanding of why hiring an attorney is important in these kinds of situations.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/8/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

First of all, if it is a felony. You may not be eligible for a lot of the diversion programs. This means one of the goals of your attorney would be to have the charge reduced to a misdemeanor. With this goal in mind, remember that PD's are overburdened with hundreds of cases to handle every month. Yours will simply be one file on top of hundreds of others.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/8/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

If it is simple possession and not poss for sale, a public defender will do fine and should be able to get you Prop 36.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/8/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.