Kansas Criminal Defense Attorney

IF police HAVE enough to arrest you already THEN You can’t talk your way out of it SO shut up and Ask for a Lawyer.

IF police DON'T HAVE enough to arrest THEN Don’t talk yourself into handcuffs SO shut up and Ask for a Lawyer.

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Police Encounter

Police Interactions

Police Interrogations 

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A general rule, defense attorneys need to be very careful about what they ask their clients. The reason is ethics. Attorneys cannot allow a client to lie to the court.

For example:
A client tells their lawyer, "I committed a crime."
The client later tells their lawyer "I am going to testify that I didn’t do it."

The attorney cannot allow the client to change their story/lie to the court. However, no matter what, an attorney is obligated to defend their client. A client can confess guilt to their lawyer.

Their lawyer can argue all the facts supporting reasonable doubt and why they’re not guilty. The only limitation is allowing the client to take the stand and lie to the court and/or jury.

Attorneys may report that a client is going to commit a crime, but they are not required to.

Attorneys can not report past crimes that a client has told them in confidence. This is protected by the attorney-client privilege.

A pending criminal charge means that charges have been filed, but not resolved.
i.e. no guilty/not guilty finding has been made.

If I Plan to Commit a Crime, Should I Hire a Lawyer First?
It is always a good idea to have an attorney on retainer.

An attorney cannot counsel you on how to commit a crime, but an attorney can consult you on possible penalties, defenses, constitutional protections (Miranda warning, search, traffic stops) RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT etc.

If they are doing their job right you won’t.

Sometimes, in federal investigation, you will receive a “target letter.” This is essentially a letter saying that you are being investigated and giving you a chance to make a statement.

*Contact a criminal defense attorney immediately before making a statement.*

In state investigations, sometimes law enforcement may contact you to make a "voluntary statement" prior to arrest.

*Do not make any statements and contact an attorney immediately.*

For more information check out our videos on

Police Encounter

Police Interactions

Police Interrogations 

During the majority of your case, you will not speak to the judge.

During the limited times that you do, just answer their question and do not try and defend yourself.

At sentencing, you will have the opportunity to address the court, if you choose.

Although it may be true, avoid blaming the victim, the cops, or the system. 97% of cases plea out.

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Yes, if the police officer has reasonable suspicion of criminal activity they can pull you over.

However, on private property, many traffic infractions may not apply and may not serve as a basis for a stop.

Under “Open Field Doctrine” the 4th amendment does protect you simply because you are on private property.

Miranda requires you to be “in custody” and subjected to “interrogation”.

Think of it as: Miranda = custody + interrogation.

So, if you are not “in custody”, then you don’t get a Miranda warning?

Often, police will not “take you into custody” to avoid telling you about your Miranda Rights.

Some simple examples :

Questioning via a phone call Asking you to “voluntarily” come to the station.
During an interview, telling you it’s “voluntary” and you can leave at any time.

For more information check out our video

Miranda Warning

Duress in the context of criminal law generally refers to the conditions surrounding a confession or "consent" to search.

Examples of duress include:

• Being held in custody without food, water, bathroom, or sleep for a long time before “confessing” to a crime.
• Threats or intimidation.
• If you were under duress at the time of a confession or "consent" to search, your attorney can file a motion to suppress that evidence.

Whether or not you are under duress is a question that will be decided by the judge.

Federal inmates can be located through BOP’s website: https://www.bop.gov/mobile/find_inmate/

Generally, these are your bail options:

• Use a bail bondsman. Here you pay 10% to a bondsman.
• Pro: you only have to pay 10%
• Con: the 10% payment is non-refundable and cannot be applied to court costs, fees, or fines.
• Con: if the defendant “runs”, then the cosigner is responsible for the entire bail amount.
• Post bond to the court. Pay full amount of bond.
• Pro: you get the money back at the end of the case.
• Con: you have to come up with the full amount or signature bond essentially a “promise to appear” for free.
• ORCD
• These are not used often, but here 10% is paid to the court (not a bondsman), and that 10% is refundable at the end of the case.

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In Kansas Prison—Inmates can receive either 0%, 15%, or 20% of “good time credit” sentence reduction.

Additional reductions may be available for “program credit” for example GED course, or drug treatment.

In Federal Prison – Inmates can earn "good time credit” at a rate of 54 days per year.

Additional reductions may be available for “program credit” for example GED course, or drug treatment.

Every state has it’s own sentencing structure, so the answer is a little different with each state. There are several factors that lead to unequal sentences:

Institutionalized reasons: minorities are disproportionately victimized by the system. Accordingly, they often have more significant criminal histories and are more likely to have multiple case pending.

Prosecutorial discretion: Often, prosecutors can dictate a sentence simply by what they choose to file. Some crimes carry specific sentences that dictate to the judge a sentencing range.

Discretionary sentencing is just that when a judge has discretion on the sentence.

The majority of crimes prescribe a “presumptive sentence” allowing the judge to exercise a limited level of discretion within the “presumptive” range.

However, often, a judge can “depart” from the “presumptive” range, in order to do this, the judge must make special findings.

An adult can be prosecuted for a crime committed as a juvenile.

If the crime is within the statute of limitations. For most crimes, this is 5 years.

The adult will be charged in juvenile court because the crime was committed as a juvenile.

However, the prosecution can seek to have the case moved to adult court.

No. Generally every federal white-collar crime has a state crime equivalent.

However, since most white-collar crimes involve the banking system (checks, money transfers, etc.) Federal courts have jurisdiction.

Thus, you could be charged federally for most white-collar crimes.

A "capital crime" is an offense where the government seeks the death penalty.

Whether an offense is can be capital or not depends on 1) the law, 2) prosecutorial discretion.

In other words, no offense is a mandatory death penalty. Rather, it becomes a death penalty case when 1) it legally can be a capital case and 2) when the prosecutor wants to seek the death penalty.

There are many cases when the prosecutor could seek the death penalty but chooses not to.

The most common capital crime is premeditated murder.

However, under Federal law, there are about 41 different capital crimes ranging from espionage and treason to a variety of murders.

For example, a client is guilty of marijuana possession, but the jury finds them not guilty because they think marijuana should be legal.

Jury nullification is when the jury refuses to follow (nullifies) the law.

In other words, “yes, they're guilty, but we don’t care, so we're finding them not guilty.”

Pros of Jury nullification: It is the epitome of a jury of your peers.

When was the last time your legislator called for your opinion before passing a law?

Through jury nullification, the community can truly impose their standard of the law.

Note: In Kansas, defense counsel cannot explicitly tell the jury that they can nullify! That’s funny, it’s like they’re afraid of what juries really think of the law.

Ex post facto is when something was legal but is now illegal.

For example: Imagine that a city passed an ordinance making it illegal to grow tomatoes. You could not be prosecuted for growing tomatoes last year before it was illegal. Such a prosecution would violate ex post facto laws.

Yes, for a variety of reasons including:

1. Poor neighborhoods are more heavily policed.
2. Poor people are less likely to be able to make bail increasing the chance they will take a plea. (conviction) in order to get out.
3. Poor people often don’t have access to the best attorneys.

All of the above is reversed for rich people.

With a strict liability offense it does not matter what your intent was. All that matters is if you did it not why or whether you meant to commit the crime.

For example: DUI is a strict liability offense. It doesn’t matter that you did not intend to be over the legal limit. It only matters that you were over the legal limit.

There are different security levels within the prison system.

Generally, your security level is based on a formula that includes age, criminal history, history of escape, history of violence, current crime, and education.