FAQ 04: Do I need a lawyer if I intend on pleading guilty?
If you get arrested for anything and you intend to plead guilty, yes, you still want to talk to an attorney about that. There are so many things that people don’t know that attorneys are trained to look for. It could be that you were falsely arrested or that there was an issue. Let’s just say it was a simple traffic ticket. Well, I’m just going to plead guilty, I don’t want to pay for a lawyer, etc. But something as so simple as the police officer, let’s say on that ticket, if he put the wrong statute number on there, that’s going to get thrown out.
And so you avoid your insurance going up, you avoid whatever possible penalties you might have and certainly if we are talking about anything other than just a minor traffic it, yes absolutely you want a lawyer if you intend on pleading guilty because there are so many consequences, collateral consequences, then just possible incarceration or whatever they might be offering you.
There are immigration consequences. Even if you are a US Citizen these days you are not necessarily safe. If you’re a green card holder, if you’re undocumented, if you’re here on a student visa, what have you, you absolutely do want to talk to an attorney.