Houston attorney Neal Davis has succeeded in getting many charges dropped or dismissed throughout the course of his career, and he may be able to help you too.
It's worth noting that not all criminal charges go to trial. Indeed, many charges are dropped prior to trial during negotiations between prosecutors and defense lawyers. But it is only the prosecutor who can drop such charges.
That can happen when a knowledgeable criminal defense attorney such as Neal Davis represents you. Neal Davis knows about many factors which can weigh against the prosecution's case, from insufficient evidence to lack of witness credibility to inadmissible evidence. Neal Davis also understands that there's an important difference between dropping charges and dismissing charges. In some ways they are the same, since each results in a defendant going free.
But charges can be dismissed only after such charges have been filed. A charge can be dropped before or after a charge has been filed. You may need a charge dropped by the prosecutor, or you may need a charge dismissed by the prosecutor, though a court also can dismiss a charge if the prosecutor has made a fundamental legal error in the case.
Note: This article focuses on achieving a dismissal on active or pending criminal charges. For those interested in obtaining dismissals on past cases , please see our related article about Expunction: How to Clear Your Criminal Record in Texas.
As for why prosecutors drop charges, that can be due to many factors. Among them is when a victim in a criminal charge — a victim around whom the case is built — decides not to cooperate. The victim may have changed his or her mind, and it's then pointless for the prosecutor to proceed without more evidence.
Here are five other possible reasons why your attorney might be able to get your charges dropped or dismissed:. In the case of Fourth Amendment violations, police can search a person, house or car without a search warrant in some circumstances.
If police have reasons to believe an arrested person is carrying a criminal weapon, a search can be made. Police can also search a vehicle after arresting the driver for driving while intoxicated DWI.
Or police can go into a house without a search warrant in the event of an emergency, such as shots being fired. A charge may, however, be dropped if it's found that the suspect was subjected to an illegal stop or there was lack of probable cause to make an arrest. Police must have a reasonable belief, based on clear facts, that an arrest is appropriate.
Police cannot arrest you due to a gut feeling or "profiling" your race. Most criminal cases never reach trial. In , Indiana courts disposed of , criminal cases. However, only of these cases went to a jury trial, and 2, went to a trial before a judge. Most cases ended with a plea bargain or dismissal.
Indiana judges summarily disposed of other cases, which is a common outcome for traffic citations. Prosecutors have an ethical duty of candor to the court and the public. Prosecutors also want to win cases. If a prosecutor sees signs that a criminal case is weak, the prosecutor must either find more evidence to support the case or dismiss it.
If the prosecution believes that it can uncover more evidence, it might dismiss the case without prejudice. A dismissal without prejudice means that the prosecution can refile the charges later if they decide to do so.
A plea bargain has the same effect as if you were found to be guilty at trial. A prosecutor might drop charges for many reasons.
Likewise, a court might feel compelled to dismiss charges for many reasons. Some of the ways that you can persuade a prosecutor or judge to dismiss charges are covered below. Prosecutors cannot pursue charges if they do not believe that you committed the charged crime. To win a conviction, a prosecutor must prove your guilt beyond reasonable doubt. You can create doubt by presenting an alibi witness or physical evidence that you did not commit a crime. Keep in mind that some exculpatory evidence might not persuade a prosecutor to dismiss the charges against you.
For example, relatives might not make credible alibi witnesses because they may have an incentive to lie on your behalf. The U. Constitution protects you from coercive police tactics , including:. This means that a prosecutor might decide to dismiss a sexual assault case at the victim's request because testifying at trial would cause the victim such emotional harm that the long term effects would be more devastating than the rape itself.
When thinking about getting charges dismissed, most of the time people are concerned with not going to trial or entering a plea, as the above scenarios explain. But there's another way to get charges dismissed, even if the case has gone to trial and the defendant has lost. A convicted defendant who wins his case on appeal can sometimes secure an order from the appellate court that the lower court the trial court dismiss the case after conviction or enter a judgment of acquittal rather than retry it.
An order to dismiss a case can occur when the appellate court, having reversed the conviction on the grounds of a bad search or arrest, examines what's left of the case and determines that there is not enough evidence to warrant another trial.
For example, if the case is overturned based on insufficient evidence to support the defendant's arrest and no other evidence suggests that the defendant would have been arrested anyway for this crime , the court may conclude that there is no remaining evidence to tie the defendant to the crime. Similarly, if the appellate court rules that a search was unconstitutional, and further rules that the evidence may not be considered, that may leave the prosecution with not enough evidence to support a finding of guilt on one or more elements of the charge.
Now and then, an appellate court will reverse a finding of guilt on the grounds that the jury did not have enough evidence to support its conclusion. Most of the time, the defense will have asked the trial judge to enter a judgment of acquittal, before the case went to the jury, and the trial judge will have denied that motion.
On appeal, the defendant makes the same argument; occasionally, he wins. The appellate court reverses and directs the trial judge to enter a judgment of acquittal. Courts can hear only those cases that they have the power to hear, which is given to them by legislators and the constitution.
Now and then, a court oversteps its bounds and hears a case it has no right to hear. For example, federal courts can try cases that arise on federal property, but not state property. Imagine a robbery on land that the federal trial court thinks is owned by the government, but it turns out on appeal that the property is state land. The federal appellate court would overturn the conviction leaving the state free to charge the offense in state court.
A trial in state court would not involve a violation of double jeopardy, because the federal and state courts are different sovereigns. A criminal defense attorney can evaluate a criminal case and the evidence and determine whether there are grounds to file a motion to dismiss. There may be grounds for dismissing charges that are not mentioned here. The attorney also can contact and try to convince the prosecutor to dismiss the charges or try to negotiate an agreement to dismiss. If you are charged with a crime, contact a local attorney immediately so that your attorney can address any possible grounds for dismissal.
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