Item: Law Office of Param S. Pabla
Rating: 5
Author: Gurpreet

A Sacramento Criminal Defense Attorney Discusses Right to Counsel

When someone is arrested, their right to counsel is explained to them as part of the Miranda warning. A Sacramento criminal defense lawyer will be obtained for if the arrestee so desires.

Asserting Your Right

Once your rights under Miranda have been explained to you and you make your request for your Sacramento criminal defense lawyer, no questions may be asked of you until your lawyer arrives. No attempts may be made by the police to interrogate you without your attorney present and any information you give under such interrogation cannot be admitted as evidence in court.

The Fifth Amendment

When you ask for counsel under the Fifth Amendment, you do more than stop interrogation regarding the offense for which you were arrested. You also prevent interrogation for any other offence whether or not the police involved in that investigation are aware that you have made the request. In other words, unlike the Sixth Amendment (offense specific), under the Fifth once you request counsel the police are forbidden to question you at all unless your Sacramento criminal defense lawyer is there with you.

Honoring the Right to Counsel

For the Miranda right to go into effect, courts usually require that the police respect its assertion once the subject has been arrested and is being questioned. The right to counsel, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, is not prompted only by the lawyer’s claim to representation of the defendant.

What to Say

By keeping your attorney’s business card with you, you are protected in case of an arrest. Hand the card to the arresting officer and say, “I will not answer questions until my lawyer arrives. Please call the number on the card.”

Protect Yourself

If you find yourself in this situation, don’t face it alone. Call Sacramento criminal defense lawyer Param Pabla at (916) 285-7900 right away.

★★★★★

“Mr. Pabla represented me with my DUI case. He has excellent communication skills and always kept me informed. Mr. Pabla made sure I understood the process and my rights. He eased my mind through a very stressful situation. I highly recommend Mr. Pabla.” Gurpreet

“I am so happy with the service that I received from Param S. Pabla. Jarrett did a great job solving my legal issue and I can’t recommend him enough! He was able to do everything quickly, painlessly, and was ALWAYS available to talk when I needed him. If I ever need help again, I will definitely use him!" Boris

“Param was excellent in my court case of failure to stop at a stop sign. The officer could not see clearly because he was too far away. The officer insisted he could and said he had video but could not produce it at the trial. The officer then asked if he could suspend the trial to go get the video but the judge said he should have had plenty of time to get the video ready beforehand. Needless to say, the judge ruled in my favor and dismissed the case which enraged the officer. Pabla Param’s defense and cross examination skills were excellent and paramount in having the case dismissed. Highly recommended.” T.C.

“My husband and I needed to update everything -family trust, will, medical stuff. Param was really patient -answering all my questions -even when I asked them twice. He wanted to be sure I understood everything we were doing. All docs were sent to us so we could go through them on our own time before anything was finalized. I also liked when we were looking at medical stuff that he had a conversation with me about what I wanted and pointed out some things I didn’t think of.” Debbie

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