Georgia Criminal Defense Information

The Criminal Prosecution Process in Georgia

If you or someone you know was recently arrested for a criminal defense in Georgia, it is wise to gain a deeper understanding of what will happen now through the rest of the Georgia criminal law process to ensure optimal preparation on everyone's part. Your public defender or private lawyer should walk you, your family member or your friend through each step of the criminal justice process and legal proceedings. Learning the felony crimes process in Georgia can better equip you to mentally and emotionally handle the different phases of the proceedings.

The Steps of the Georgia Judicial Process

Arrest in Georgia

Generally speaking, the first part of the Georgia criminal law process is a felony arrest. Some types of felonies include rape, murder, aggravated assault, robbery, forgery, arson, fraud and burglary. However, the state of Georgia classifies numerous other types of crimes as felonies. In some cases, police surveillance might have preceded the arrest. In other cases, law enforcement might have been alerted to the crime by witnesses, or present at the scene of the crime when it transpired. In any case, the criminal prosecution process always begins when you or your loved one is formally arrested for a crime. At the time of detainment, the presiding officer must inform an individual that an immediate arrest is being made, that the person being arrested has a right to contact an attorney, and that the person has the right to remain silent at the time of the arrest (Miranda Warning).

Arraignment in Georgia

The second step in the felony crimes process in Georgia is an arraignment to be held no more than 72 hours after the arrest. During this step, the person charged with a crime(s)is to be brought in front of a judge who will orally declare the charges in an open courtroom. At this time, the person charged or their criminal defense attorney can enter a plea. If no response is given, the person charged is considered to have consented to a “mute plea”, which the court translates as a “not guilty” plea. Using this method to publicly show that you do recognize the validity of how the criminal prosecution process has been conducted up to this point. The most common options are to plead “guilty” or “not guilty” to committing the crime. A less used option is to plead “no contest,” which means that the arrestee is not admitting guilt of committing any crime, but is not formally disputing the charges, either. No contest pleas are generally used by people who might also be sued in civil court for monetary damages sought in criminal cases.

Bail Bond Hearings in Georgia

Although some bail bond hearings are set within hours of being arrested, the state of Georgia might deem that the bail bond hearing be held within 30 days of the arrest. Bail is simply an amount of money set by a judge to allow the defendant to be released until the trial. At the bail bond hearing, the judge sets the bail. The defendant can either pay the entire bail amount, or enlist the help of a bail bondsmen. When enlisting the services of a bail bondsman the defendant (personall or throught family r friends)generally has to put up 10 percent of the bail. At this point the bail bondsmen gives the court the rest of the money to the court on your behalf. When you show up for your scheduled court appearance, the bail money is then refunded to the bail bondsmen, who keeps the fees he or she charged you for the bail as his or her payment for helping to get you out of jail. If the defendant fails to appear in court on the appointed day, the judge will issue a FAilure To Appear (FTA) warrant for the arrest of the defendant, and the bond money will be forfeited to the court.

Plea Negotiation or Trial Preparations

Oftentimes, criminal cases do not go to trial because the prosecuting attorney recommends a plea negotiation to the accused. If the district attorney or solicitors office offers a plea negotiation, it will usually mean reduced charges, reduced jail time, or even probation or house arrest over incarceration. If the prosecution and defendant do not reach a plea negotiation, the defense lawyer will want to immediately begin trial preparations. During the preparations, the criminal lawyer will most likely want to review the evidence held by the prosecution, coach the defendant on how to answer direct questions, and inform the defendant about the jury selection process. By law the prosecution must disclose to the defending party all evidence which they have and may use in prosecuting the case. Several other factors pertaining to the particular case will also determine what course of action the defense attorney may choose to take in the actual courtroom criminal defense.

Felony Crimes Process in Georgia; Possible Outcomes

At the end of the criminal court trial, several different possibilities can occur. For one, the defendant could be found not guilty of the crime, and be free to leave. The defendant could be found guilty of the crime and sentenced at a later date. Post conviction sentencing could include incarceration, house arrest or probation for a specified period of time. Under Georgia criminal law process, a person convicted of a crime has up to 30 days to appeal the court's ruling.

DISCLAIMER: This is a general presentation of the criminal justice process in Georgia. Applicable laws or circumstances may make this information become outdated, inaccurate or incomplete. You should consult with an attorney for professional legal advice on any criminal matter. This article is not legal advice.

Law Firm Internet Marketing

How To Find Better Law Firm Clients

Published on January 2, 2013 by: James H. Hobson

Any established law firm has probably determined the type of client that best fits their expertise, billing rates and work flow. By refining specific areas of your law firm internet marketing you can make a profound improvement in the quality of clients that contact your firm.

Examine Your Internet Marketing Process

Define Your Ideal Client

The first step is to clearly identify what type of client you want to attract. Obviously you don't have total control over the situation and what comes your way. Sometimes your need for more business may compel you to accept a non-ideal client however working to affect a more desireable outcome is worth your time and money.

A good place to start is by listing the key attributes or characteristics of the desired client. Use the list to then identify ways to appeal to or connect with that characteristic. An example is finding that your ideal client is probably over 40 years of age thus making your website font larger, or realizing your ideal client is female using rounded corners and softer colors on your website.

A second list should be created to identify buying (hiring) motivators for the ideal client. Depending upon the type of client you seek, you can adjust colors schemes, tone of presentation and other design elements for subliminal messaging. For example bright colors, and multiple, oversized fonts tend to convey "inexpensive", while deep jewel tone colors and modest design elements convey sensibility and refinement (which relates to better quality and higher cost). Be sure to include information to overcome objections such as making it clear that you accept credit cards, have extended office hours to meet new clients, etc.

Create Website Copy That Appeals To Your Ideal Client

Using your two lists you can write website content that speaks to the needs of your ideal client. Many law firms develop websites that do more to glorify their firm than to speak to the specific needs of the prospective client. Certainly your law firm's experience is worth showing but the most critical part of your website's message is "here's what we can do for you".

Important website content (important to the prospective client) should be listed in bullet items, as highlighted text or otherwise be made easy to find and read. The A-level clients are looking for your experience in handling serious matters such as a murder defense, corporate level business cases, or multi-million dollar divorce cases. Don't just write rambling text, present critical information!

Develop Your Law Firm's Brand

Every business needs to develop it's brand. Your brand is built around customer perceptions about your quality, pricing, trustworthiness, visual brand elements and similar components. Almost every industry or business segment has a defined set of leading brands or individuals. For attorneys it has been people like F. Lee Bailey, Johnny Cochran or Frank Ragano.

Perception and brand recognition goes a long way towards getting the top drawer clients. Keeping a high profile through well developed breadth of internet listings, media coverage, charity events, social media, or community involvement can make your firm well known, well trusted and a first-in-mind option for legal woes. If you have a reasonable amount of media examples, articles, publications, and other credential builders you should utilize a Newsroom page on your website, or make active use of a blog.

Refine Your PPC Advertising

Pay per click advertising (PPC) such as Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing or Bing Advertising can be a key part of a law firm internet marketing strategy. How your PPC advertaing program is developed and managed will determine the quality of your pay per click advertising's ROI.

An example of refining your PPC advertising is dropping the ego-centric temptation to be #1 for every possible term. Become content with whatever ranking you get with each term having a reasonable maximum cost per click. To refine your PPC advertising to find better clients and avoid wasted click charges on low quality traffic you need to control your ad copy. Your ad copy is essentially what generates the click, right? By including a qualifier such as "$350 per hour" or "trial fees starting at $5,000" you can dissuade a lower financial level of shopper.

Target Your Organic SEO

Improving search engine rankings is arguably the best thing you cna do to reach more prospective clients online. Hiring a good law firm internet marketing company is usually not cheap so you want to get the most for your investment. Asking to be ranked for "attorney Chicago" may seem perfect but unless your law firm does every type of law this term is of marginal value. Search terms of 4-6 words are used by people who know exactly what they need meaning they are ready to buy. These long-tail search phrases typically have search volumes that are low however they connect with the ideal client!

Your SEO company should always perform thorough keyword research to identify the terms people are actually using, sort the terms based on monthly search traffic, and then develop a strategic plan to optimize your site to be found for the better terms. With the knowledge of the best terms and high traffic terms you can target your placement to find better clients. By adding qualifying terms such as a city name you can develop an even more precise list of target keywords.

Adjust Your Local Search Marketing

Last but not least, remember that you are more likely to get clients who are relatively close to your practice. For this reason it is absolutely essential to create all possible local search listings and do substantial local search SEO to capture top rankings for your area. There are many fine details to manage to fully optimize a local search listing but anyone can handle the basics such as providing complete and consistent information on all local search sites.

Law firm internet marketing can produce some amazing revenue for your practice. The most important thng to remember is that if you are not on page one of Google for high traffic search terms or highly relevant and specific search terms your ROI may not be very good. When you commit the resources, and hire a good internet marketing company, you can reap the first page benefits of professional law firm internet marketing.