NORTH BAY CRIMINAL LAW FIRM OVERVIEW

Always Criminal Defense Attorneys…Fighting On Your Side For You!

Our California criminal defense attorneys in two offices in the North Bay handle misdemeanor, felony, DUI and juvenile cases throughout the Greater North Bay area including Marin, Solano, Alameda, Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino Counties.

Our professional team of California criminal lawyers includes only those attorneys who have worked on the side of ordinary people like yourself who are being charged by the state and or the prosecution.

None of our attorneys have ever worked for the Prosecution or the Public Defenders Office. You need attorneys who are on your side who are not tainted by governmental bureaucratic training and tactics.

You want real warriors who have fought in the trenches for the people and who are not ex-government cronies. Together with our private detectives and forensic experts, we work as a team collaboratively drawing upon more than forty years of real time in the trenches trial experience.

From many years of experience, we know firsthand how the police and district attorneys put together their cases. We have never worked for them nor have we been in their shoes to crush the ordinary person who is accused of a crime.

Instead, we have their cookbook of evil recipes which has been used to put you behind bars for a very long time. We use our knowledge and experience to your advantage in fighting your criminal charges every step of the way. We fight for justice with a passion and fight to acquit, but if that is not possible we work hard to reduce your charges. We also look for every possible jail alternative so that you and your family are minimally impacted.

An Aggressive and a Very Proactive Approach To All Handled Cases

Our team of experienced criminal defense lawyers will not take a wait and see approach. You will never find us or any member of our team stalling before the first court date or until the attorney receives the police report and/or discovery before investigating and proactively working on your case. As soon as we are retained, we immediately go into action and do whatever we can to dissuade the district attorney and their oppressive machinery from going forward with filing of the criminal charges.

We strongly believe that there is no time to waste. The most critical window for defense counsel to work up your case aggressively may be the first few days following an arrest or even prior to formal charges ever being filed against you. By getting to work immediately, often we can locate favorable defense evidence and witnesses, and get a “head start” towards having the district attorney reconsider filing charges in the first place.

Our Skilled Private Investigators Make A Difference!

Law enforcement is preoccupied with aiding the prosecution and building-up a case against you. Oftentimes, police officers are called “prosecutors in a suit”. Law enforcement or the police should not be relied upon to gather favorable evidence that helps exonerate you as a suspect. Please note that the police are not on your side.

On the other hand, our private defense experts and investigators are sometimes former career police officers and/or trained in forensics who know how to minimize and reduce the adverse facts in your case. Contrary to the police, our experts and hired forensics know that their job is to find the evidence that will most benefit you.

It is our job to assign them to re-interview and locate favorable witnesses, to canvas neighborhoods, to obtain surveillance tapes, to do background checks on key prosecution witnesses, and to locate evidence to corroborate our clients’ version of the facts.

We Know Our Way Around The Local Courts

We practice in most of the North Bay counties surrounding San Francisco Bay. Every county and every courthouse has its own way of doing things. The criminal court process in Sonoma County, for example, differs significantly from the process in Marin County just to the south. But even within let’s say Alameda County, the procedures at the central courthouse vary considerable from those at a different branch in the same county.

By working day in and day out in the same North Bay Counties, we have developed trusting relationships with judges, prosecutors, probation officers, and court clerks and court staff.

More importantly, we know how things work in particular courtrooms and the idiosyncrasies of certain judges in those courtrooms with particular prosecutors. From all of the years of experience, we have learned who would be the best party to talk to and who has discretion and what are the most effective ways to get you the best result under these circumstances.

From the many years of experience along with knowing the political affiliations and histories of different judges over time, we can maneuver around some of the more harsh judges and departments by using various tactics.

For example, we have the right to 170.6 or disqualify a judge once within the process for prejudice. We also know that certain judges are scheduled to move into different courtrooms and departments so we wait until the time is right to get our clients the very best possible outcome. This takes time, skill and some patience along the way.

Close Personal Contact With Your Attorney Is Critical

Facing criminal charges often traumatizes the accused and our clients are no different. Nothing will compound the stress more than the inability to reach your attorney either by phone call or by dropping in to see us when an emergency arises.

At Fiumara & Milligan Law, PC we put a high premium on the accessibility of our California criminal defense lawyers and support staff to be there for you when you need us the most. We are here not only to provide moral and emotional support but legal representation at every stage of your case. To accomplish this we pride ourselves by observing two policies:

  1. Every client phone call, email or text is returned the same day; and
  2. Every client gets the personal cell number of his/her attorney and the attorney’s assistant

Not only does this provide our clients, you, the assurance of knowing that you can reach your lawyer at any critical time during our representation, it also helps us to do our job more effectively since communication is paramount.

We find that close client interaction and communication is pivotal to our better understanding of your case and this translates into a better result. We believe that our clients are the best resource for understanding what happened and who the key players are in their case. Therefore, we want to hear from you, and you will definitely be hearing from us since together we can effectively tell your side of the story and put together the very best defense possible.

Early Intervention Can Prevent Charges From Being Filed

Sometimes it is possible to stop or dissuade the district attorney from even filing criminal charges in the first place.

After making an arrest or investigating a suspected crime, the police will take their evidence to the district attorney for the formal filing. The district attorney then has the job to evaluate the potential case and decide which criminal charges, if any at all, to file. Usually, the prosecutor makes his/her decision based solely upon what the police provide them. There is often much more to the story and if we have a say, then we can effectively stop the train collision.

Many times our Northern California criminal defense lawyers can meet with representatives of the district attorneys’ office during the same time period as the investigation is proceeding. Our North Bay criminal defense attorneys can present our witness statements and/or other evidence or other information that will tend to acquit or mitigate our clients’ role in a particular crime or criminal activity.

Knowing your side of the story may affect the district attorney’s calculations and willingness to go forward with filing charges. When the prosecutors see the whole picture and not just what the cops or the alleged victim presented, the district attorney may decide to file lesser charges (a misdemeanor rather than a felony) or not file criminal charges at all. We call this a rejection or discharge by the district attorney and this is a positive step in the right direction!

If you or someone you know has been accused of a crime and needs honest and no-nonsense legal advice about the options available to you, contact our law firm today.