Court procedures, stage by stage
You have the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer during any questioning and any court procedure. Both are easier to exercise if you know what's coming.
The stage most people missIf you are suspected of a crime but not yet charged, hiring a lawyer before police approach you can be a very effective way to protect yourself — and can sometimes let you avoid prosecution altogether. Almost nobody calls at this stage, and it is the stage where a lawyer has the most room to work.
What happens, in order- Pre-charge investigation
- Arrest or summons
- First appearance — the judge sets bail and release conditions
- Arraignment and plea
- Discovery from the state
- Independent investigation and witness interviews
- Pre-trial motions
- Resolution or trial
Make every court appearance. Prosecutors routinely add a bail-jumping charge when someone misses one, which turns a single problem into two. Depending on the county, some cases resolve without a guilty plea at all, or through programs that sharply reduce the jail or prison time otherwise on the table — worth asking about early rather than late.
Felony and misdemeanor defense
From charges that carry a few days to charges that carry the rest of your life. A conviction reaches past the sentence — employment, housing, professional licensing, the right to vote, the right to remain in the country, and the right to own or use a firearm.
Who we've representedConstruction workers, truck drivers with CDLs, former police officers, teachers, church secretaries, financial advisors, doctors, bartenders and engineers. Different lives, different things at stake — which is why we ask what you actually need protected before deciding how to fight.
Charges we defend- Assault in the first and second degree
- Second and third strike offenses
- Sex offenses carrying potential life sentences
- Residential and commercial burglary
- Robbery
- Theft in the first and lesser degrees
- Felony harassment
- Unlawful imprisonment
- White collar — fraud, theft, forgery, embezzlement
- Vehicular assault
- Hit and run
- Violations of no-contact orders
Aggressively attacking the state's evidence and the charge itself is often what makes the difference — not because it always wins outright, but because it changes what the state is willing to offer.
Defending drug charges
Search and seizure decides more drug cases than anything that happens at trial. If the stop, the search, or the warrant doesn't hold up, the evidence can go — and often the case with it.
Where these cases are wonScrutinizing police, prosecution and court procedure from the investigation and arrest through trial preparation: constitutional violations, procedural failures, and the credibility of the state's scientific evidence and its experts. Pre-trial motions are used intensively, including suppression of all the evidence and dismissal where the facts support it.
What we handle- Possession of a controlled substance
- Possession with intent to deliver
- Delivery
- Manufacture
- Unauthorized marijuana grows
- Cocaine
- Heroin
- Methamphetamine
- Psilocybin
- Prescription and legend drugs
A drug conviction can carry consequences well beyond the sentence — including immigration consequences and loss of firearm rights. Those need to be part of the strategy from the first conversation, not discovered afterward.
Domestic violence accusations
These cases move faster than any other kind, and they move on several fronts at once — the criminal charge, a no-contact order, your housing, your firearm rights, and often a parenting case running in parallel.
Why the charge may not match the storyIn Washington a domestic violence designation turns on the relationship between the people involved, not on the seriousness of what is alleged. Arrests are often effectively automatic once police are called, which means charges get filed in situations far more complicated than the report suggests.
Charges that arrive with this label- Assault, felony and misdemeanor
- Malicious mischief
- Harassment
- Unlawful imprisonment
- Kidnapping
- Violation of a no-contact order
- Burglary
- Indecent liberties
We work with professional investigators to look for favorable evidence, because these cases frequently turn on what wasn't in the report — messages, timelines, and witnesses nobody asked.
Rape and sexual assault defense
An accusation alone can do irreparable damage to a person's freedom, livelihood, family and reputation. These cases require thorough, discreet, technically careful defense.
Two things people get wrongVoluntary intoxication is not a recognized defense in Washington. Separately, where an allegation rests on incapacity, Washington law does provide a statutory defense — that the defendant reasonably believed the complainant was not incapacitated — but it must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a real burden on the defense rather than something the state has to disprove.
Charges in this area- Rape
- Rape of a child
- Statutory rape based on age difference
- Indecent liberties
- Assault with sexual motivation
- Communication with a minor for immoral purposes
Juvenile jurisdiction can be declined, which means a teenager can end up facing adult charges and a potential life sentence. If the person accused is a minor, that possibility needs attention immediately — it is one of the few decisions in the system that is very hard to undo later.