Akron Criminal Defense Lawyers

What Are the Potential Penalties Upon Conviction for a Criminal Offense in Ohio?

One way you can incur penalties in a criminal case is for a state prosecutor to secure a conviction against you. For the prosecutor to obtain a guilty finding or conviction in a criminal case, they must satisfy their legal burden beyond a reasonable doubt. If they can do this, you may face numerous harsh penalties.

Criminal offenders may be subject to severe penalties for felony and misdemeanor convictions. In addition to the potential legal penalties upon conviction, an individual may experience numerous collateral consequences, including loss of a driver’s license in a DUI case up to mandatory registration as a sex offender in a sex offense case.

The ultimate penalties a convicted offender will receive depend upon various factors, including the pending criminal charge, their prior criminal history, and their case’s specific facts and circumstances.

Some of the most common penalties that an individual may receive upon conviction include:

• Incarceration in a jail
• High monetary fines
• Probation
• Community service
• Mandatory drug and alcohol rehabilitation
• Mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device (IID) on their vehicle (such as for a DUI conviction)
• Required sex offender registry (for a sex offense conviction)
• Loss of a driver’s license for driving-related offenses

In addition to these potential legal penalties for a criminal conviction, you may experience numerous collateral consequences that affect your life and your relationships with others.

Some of those possible collateral consequences include:

• Difficulty gaining admission to an educational program at a vocational school, university, or college
• Loss of financial aid or scholarship funds from an educational institution
• Limited or no contact with family members, including children, if the court enters a protective order against you
• Inability to find or keep a job
• Inability to find a decent place to live
• Harm to one’s personal and professional reputation in the community

If you ultimately incur a criminal conviction in Akron, we can represent you at your sentencing hearing before a judge. At that hearing, we can advocate for your legal rights and pursue the lowest possible penalty in your case. We can also work to eliminate, or at least lessen, the collateral consequences you may experience upon conviction.

Potential Defenses to a Criminal Charge in Akron

In any Ohio criminal case, the state prosecutor has the sole legal burden of proof. As the criminal defendant, you do not need to establish any legal elements or prove anything in your case.

You do not need to take the witness stand at your criminal bench or jury trial. However, we can raise one or more legal defenses on your behalf at a court proceeding. These defenses may work to negate the prosecutor’s ability to satisfy their legal burden of proof.

If your legal defense succeeds, you may avoid a criminal conviction.

Our legal team can investigate your situation and gather the necessary evidence to build a compelling case. Potential evidence we can use at trial includes medical records, witness statements, police reports, video footage, and pictures of the incident scene.

Common legal defenses that we can raise on your behalf at trial include:

• Constitutional violations, including violations of your Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures and your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination
• Lack of possession over an illegal item, such as a firearm or drug
• Mistaken identity, meaning that the alleged victim mistakenly identified you as the perpetrator
• Alibi, meaning that you were somewhere else at the time the alleged offense occurred
• Self-defense, meaning that you used a proportionate amount of force to what the alleged victim used against you, and you were not the initial aggressor

Our legal team can determine if you may raise one or more of these legal defenses at your criminal court trial. If so, we can aggressively fight to completely dismiss your pending criminal charge.

Exploring Available Legal Options in Your Case 

We can take several necessary steps on your behalf in response to a pending criminal charge.

First, we can determine if you may argue a legal defense at your criminal court trial. Many legal defenses operate as a complete defense. Consequently, if the judge or jury accepts your defense, they may dismiss your entire case.

At other times, we can negotiate a plea deal with the state prosecutor in your case. Most criminal cases, between 95 and 98 percent, in fact, resolve through a plea deal. However, you may not want to accept a plea deal, especially if you have a solid legal defense to your pending criminal charge.

In a plea deal arrangement with the state prosecutor, the prosecutor typically offers one or more concessions in exchange for a guilty plea from the accused individual.

For example, if the accused person agrees to plead guilty, the prosecutor might reduce the pending criminal charge from a felony down to a misdemeanor, resulting in lesser penalties. Alternatively, the prosecutor might offer the accused individual a probation period, allowing them the chance to escape a conviction if they complete all of their probationary terms successfully.

However, the accused gives up certain legal rights by agreeing to a plea deal. First, they waive their right to a trial by a jury of their peers. Additionally, they give up their right to an appeal.

If the accused decides to accept a plea deal from the state prosecutor, they will need to appear at a hearing in front of a judge. They must also state on the record that they agree to accept the plea deal freely and voluntarily – and that no one coerced them into accepting it.

Our legal team can weigh whether accepting a pending plea deal from the state’s attorney handling your case makes sense.