criminal-defense

Not a week goes by where we don’t get a phone call that goes something like this:

I broke up with my girlfriend a week ago.  She wasn’t happy about that, but I really sent her over the edge when she saw me with a new girl at a bar in Chicago.  She screamed at me there, called the other girl a whore and threw a drink on me.  I did nothing, but smile and walk away.   I was going to get a restraining order against her, but before I could do that, the cops knocked on my door and arrested me.  She told them that I punched her multiple times.  That’s a complete lie.  How can I get hauled off to jail when this never happened?  Do I even need an attorney since I’m 100% innocent and she’s nuts.  I’d never hit a woman.

So how did this happen?

All it takes for the police to arrest someone is to have another person file a complaint alleging a crime.  While it would be nice and helpful if they investigated to determine if anything actually happened, they aren’t obligated to.  Unfortunately, this type of bogus arrest happens all of the time.

This guy does need a Chicago criminal defense lawyer.  If his ex shows up at court and will lie under oath, he could find himself convicted and doing jail time.  That seems ridiculous, but innocent people go to jail every day in America.

The hope is to get the charges dropped and then get her arrested for filing a false police report.  When faced with a crazy person, you really have to push back a bit.

It’s not just crazy ex’s that do this type of stuff.  Employers will report employees for theft without any proof.  Neighbors will go after neighbors they don’t like.

The good news is that an experienced attorney can almost always make these charges go away.  The bad news is that it does cost you money to deal with and of course it’s a headache.  But never assume that just because you are innocent that nothing will happen.  It’s a crime to lie on the witness stand under oath, but it’s also a crime to make a false police report.  If it happens once, then they’ll do it again.

Written by Michael Helfand