Most people who are arrested in the St. Louis area probably don’t immediately think about the U.S. Constitution and their rights. That’s understandable because an arrest is usually a jarring event in anyone’s life. However, the sooner arrestees and criminal defendants think about their constitutional rights, the better their chances of avoiding a conviction might be.
Right to counsel
Under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, almost every criminal defendant has the right to counsel – meaning that they have the right to be represented by an attorney both in the immediate aftermath of an arrest and all the way through the subsequent criminal case. It used to be that this right was thought to only apply in federal criminal cases but, about 60 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that made this right applicable to almost all state-level cases as well.
So, why is the right to counsel so important for arrestees and defendants to think about in the aftermath of an arrest? Well, it’s mainly because law enforcement officials and prosecutors will attempt to get arrestees and defendants to talk – to say enough to, basically, provide the best evidence to use against them to get a conviction. Anyone detained by law enforcement officials, of course, has the “right to remain silent”; but don’t forget about your right to have counsel present during any interactions with government officials as well.
Being arrested and charged with a crime is a trying time for anyone. However, those who remember and exercise their constitutional rights may be better off in the long run than those who waive those rights.