Miami Law Office of Sydney P Smith :: Criminal Defense Attorney

Sydney P Smith Miami Criminal Defense Attorney Florida

Home About Me Practice Areas Contact Details Press and Media Law Links

A few words of advice

If you are unfortunate enough to be convicted of a criminal offence you may lose;

Your reputation
Your home
Your family
Your income
Your freedom

It is extremely important to take legal advice from the outset and a good attorney will not be cheap.

In the long term the money spent on representation will seem trivial should things go badly in a criminal prosecution where you are the target.

Sydney P Smith Miami Criminal Defense Attorney Florida

When a person is arrested by the State of Florida or by the Federal Government it is an extremely serious matter. It is not the way it is portrayed in Hollywood. To be arrested and charged is a dehumanizing and horrible process. It can spell the end of your life as you know it.

The process is gradual and at each phase your opportunity to exercise your rights are vanishing. It may seem that the right approach is to wait and see how bad things get but that is almost always the wrong approach. The prosecutor is a well trained lawyer and he has focused on you and he has the recourses of the police and the Government.

If you think that you may be under investigation or possibly facing criminal charges you are seriously advised to retain the services of an attorney.

The Constitution and the laws grant rights to the accused but if they are waived by inaction they are generally gone forever. The time to start to fight is the first moment where it is apparent that you are the focus of an investigation. Do not try to talk your way out of it with the police. That is the most common mistake made and has led to countless convictions. The best and most intelligent approach is to enlist the assistance of competent counsel who understands the criminal laws and procedures and who does this work all of the time.

The Law Office of Sydney Smith, Miami criminal defense attorney, is dedicated to aggressively protecting the constitutional rights of individuals who are under investigation for a crime. There have been many instances throughout history where an individual has been charged with a crime that they in fact did not commit. We are very aware of the huge responsibility that taking on the defense of a human being places on us.

Once retained we will zealously begin our own complete investigation into the charges against you, we will gather evidence that can help support your case and challenge the charges that you may face. We passionately believe in the right of the accused to a skillful and committed advocate as their representative in any confrontation with the prodigious recourses of the prosecutor.

For a free initial consultation please call the Law office of Sydney Smith PA

A Miami based criminal defense attorney, Sydney Smith has been practicing criminal law exclusively and continually for nineteen years. He has represented thousands of accused people in criminal prosecutions and litigated more than a hundred jury trials. While he has practiced primarily in Florida's state and federal courts in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, he has handled state cases throughout Florida, as well as practiced in federal court in other states such as New York and Arkansaw.

As a Miami criminal defense attorney Sydney Smith has tried cases charging first degree murder, with the defendant facing the death penalty and life in prison. He has defended individuals against charges ranging from money laundering, Medicaid and mortgage fraud, manslaughter and sexual battery, to DUI and domestic violence.

WHY DO YOU NEED A MIAMI CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY?

Those within the criminal justice system recognize the critical importance of an attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced in the complex system of laws and procedures that apply to criminal prosecutions. When criminal charges are filed, the defendant's freedom, reputation and future are at stake. It is critically important to choose a competent and credible advocate and legal counselor to inform you of your rights and to recognize and fully exploit the weaknesses of the prosecution.

A skilled counselor will fulfill these important functions:

zealously advocate an individual criminal clients defenses, rights and position. /li>
inform you of the context of a criminal prosecution
explain the complex network of procedures and laws particular to your case
humanize a client to both a judge and a jury

When all of the skills of a skilled and experienced advocate are synergized, then the individual defendant will maximize his or her prospect of prevailing over a prosecution. Only then is the playing field against the prosecution even.

HOW CAN A CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY HELP YOU?

Being charged with a crime is a very serious matter that can take many months, or even years, to work its way through the court system. At each stage, the defendant has rights and opportunities to strike back and potentially prevail over a prosecution. While the applicable criminal laws, procedures and protocol vary in Federal and each of the state courts, broadly speaking, the process can be broken down into the following phases:

CRIMINAL ARREST

For an arrest to occur, there must be a sufficient body of evidence already known to the arresting police force or federal agency. In certain situations an arrest warrant is necessary; often a search will accompany the arrest. An arrest is a formal legal action which compromises the liberty of an individual. The prosecution must show that the process was performed according to the law, or the defendant may move to suppress evidence or dismiss the charges leveled against him or her.

FIRST APPEARANCE AND BOND

You have a constitutional right to be heard before a neutral and detached judge within a reasonable time. This is often construed as within twenty four hours. The police may not detain and question a person indefinitely, except in certain terrorist related circumstances. Even under the Patriot Act, a set of legislation that curtails the criminal rights of those accused of terrorism, long detention and questioning without judicial review is highly questionable, and the state of the law is unsettled. If this constitutional right appears compromised, your lawyer can argue that the detention was illegal, or beyond the time limits set in the law. He may move to dismiss evidence, such as a confession, argue that you should be released without the need to post a bond, or demand that the charges be dismissed.

In most cases, the defendant has an absolute right to a bond. A bond is the legal word for the pledge of a sum of money to guarantee the appearance at trial of a defendat. Even in cases where the a charge that may be punished by the death penalty, the prosecution must show that they have sufficient evidence to hold a defendant. A lawyer will minimize the amount of bond that you need to post, or to argue that no bond should be posted at all.

A bonding company can be retained to secure a defendant's release, often for 10% or 15% of the actual bond sum set by the court. A defendant has a right to a hearing in front of a judge to set the bond amount when the defendants attorney has demanded such a hearring. At this stage, a skilled criminal defense attorney will find out the nature and factual details of the police case against you by cross examining the arresting officers.

ARRAIGNMENT

This is the formal legal process of charging a defendant by the prosecutor. This is also the time to:

Formally enter a not guilty plea
To have the prosecutor inform the defendant of the exact charges and statutes with which the defendant is being charged
Demand that the prosecutor provide the defense with discovery, a formal legal concept that is essentially a detailed showing of the evidence against the defendant

This is the time to demand a trial by a jury of the defendant's peers as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Often a trial date will be set by the Judge at this time or shortly after.

PRE TRIAL MOTIONS

Criminal Defense Practice Areas

There are many diverse areas of the law and it is common for attorneys to specialize in particular types of practice. At the Law Office of Sydney Smith we have many years of experience in litigation in the following areas.

Clicking on a link below will take you to the web page for that particular practice area.

Asset Forfeiture

Criminal Appeals

DUI

Durable Medical Equipment Fraud

Grand Jury Investigation

Healthcare Fraud

Insurance Fraud

Internet or Computer Crime

Medicare / Medicaid

Money Laundering

Mortgage Fraud

Narcotics and Drug Trafficking

Public Corruption

RICO Racketeering

Securities Fraud

Sentencing Hearing and Reduction

Tax Fraud

White Collar Crime

During a set time between your arraignment and trial, your lawyer can file motions on your behalf, including motions to suppress illegally obtained evidence, motions requesting more time to explore the facts of the case, motions to dismiss the charges due to illegal actions by the police or the prosecutor, motions to request changes of venue, or a plethora of other challenges to the criminal prosecution. Of course the exact nature of the motions to be filed will depend on the set of unique facts of the individual case.

TRIAL

In order to convict during a trial, the prosecutor must prove his case to beyond any reasonable doubt, and obtain a unanimous vote of guilty by a jury of the defendant's peers. A skilled criminal defense attorney, therefore, will utilize the concepts of presumption of innocence, the burden of proof and the standard of proof.

The presumption of innocence is the cornerstone concept of criminal law in America. It means that a juror must promise that they will assume that the accused is innocent at the outset of the trial and will only take into account the evidence presented to determine if that presumption is overcome.
The burden of proof borne by the prosecutor. If he presents no evidence or evidence that is not sufficient to overcome the standard, the verdict must be not guilty
The standard of proof is the highest in any court in America. Proof beyond any reasonable doubt.

In many states, the defense lawyer has the right to "voir dire" the jury, a Latin term meaning, literally, "to speak the truth." This means that the lawyer may speak one-on-one with the individual jurors in open court, enabling the attorney to find jurors who understand that the prosecutor must meet his burden and who may be sympathetic to the defense concepts that the defense lawyer intends to present.

VERDICT AND SENTENCING

A skilled trial lawyer will obtain not guilty verdicts on some or all of the charges if there are reasonable doubts from the evidence, conflicts in the evidence or a lack of evidence. What constitutes a reasonable doubt is not a matter that can be quantified or legislated; it is a matter for the conscious of the jurors. A skilled advocate will shape all of his or her arguments towards showing the doubts and thereby giving the jury a legal bases to find the defendant not guilty and forever free of being prosecuted for the conduct charged. A skilled advocate will shape the reasonable doubt arguments so that they streamline into an argument that his client is actually and factually not guilty.

If convicted the Judge will set a date for sentencing. The defense has the opportunity to present evidence and to make the argument for leniency. In a federal prosecution the Department of Corrections is charged with creating a comprehensive document called a Pre Sentencing Investigation Report. The report is detailed and covers many aspects of the defendant's life and the crime charged. The laws governing federal sensing are detailed and complex. A skilled defense attorney will creatively use the law and research to convince the judge that the appropriate sentence is as low as the law permits and to show that leniency is appropriate and that the right sentence is the lowest the law permits.

CRIMINAL APPEALS

The opportunity of the criminal defense attorney to comb the record, the typed transcript of the trial, and to identify and argue errors of law made by the trial court and to present these arguments, in a written brief and orally, to a higher court. If the higher court agrees with the defense attorneys arguments the higher court will vacate the sentence and send the matter back for a new trial or even dismiss the case altogether, especially if a constitutional violation such as the right against double jeopardy has occurred.