After an arrest, time is not on your side. The critical actions you take before formal charges are filed can heavily impact the outcome of your case. Evidence exists and must be protected long before the prosecution builds its case against you.
The problem is, evidence is not static. Evidence gets lost, deleted, fades, degrades, and forgotten. Once you lose it, it may be gone forever. Contacting a criminal defense attorney in the moments after your arrest equips you with the tools you need to identify and preserve evidence.
Individuals in the greater Chicago area can call Schaumburg criminal defense attorney Thomas Glasgow at Glasgow & Olsson for trusted, competent, and skilled legal representation.
Evidence Can Disappear Faster Than You Think
The good news is that in today’s digital world, cameras are everywhere, so there is a high likelihood that surveillance footage exists. It can only be helpful, though, if you can get your hands on it. Many businesses have policies that overwrite their security videos; sometimes it is done in days or weeks, and other times it is done overnight. An attorney will know how to obtain access to video evidence that may speak volumes about what happened and contradict allegations.
Digital data is much the same. Text messages and call logs, emails, GPS data, and phone apps can also be considered temporary. This is because they can be deleted or lost. An attorney can take swift action to request these digital records before anything happens to them.
Witness memories are the clearest right after an event. The longer you wait to speak with witnesses, the harder it may be for them to recall a true accounting of what they saw. Human memory is fragile, and memories can fade fast. An attorney can locate key witnesses, interview them while everything is fresh in their minds, and secure statements that could contradict prosecution witnesses.
Witnesses can also move around, making them difficult to locate. They can pass away. Early legal action by your attorney, contacting witnesses, can improve your ability to get testimony that could support your case.
In the normal course of business, records like employment logs, medical records, or transaction histories can be lost, destroyed, or altered. An attorney can issue preservation requests or subpoenas to acquire the documentation.
Get Qualified Legal Help Today
When you have counsel at the very beginning, you have more control over your situation. Preservation of evidence can go a long way to shaping the narrative before law enforcement develops its own theories and believes them more than the true facts of your case.
At Glasgow & Olsson, we are widely recognized as a leading authority on criminal law in Illinois. For this reason, Attorney Thomas Glasgow is a trusted legal voice who is regularly invited to appear on major networks, including ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and Fox News.
Speak with our Chicago criminal defense lawyers today and learn how decades of trusted experience can protect what matters most to you.