Many clients are concerned about telling their Tampa drug attorneys the entire story, including the bad facts. Everyone wants to disclose all the good facts, but leave out the bad, potentially incriminating facts. Frankly, if you are not willing to tell your attorney everything, you are truly wasting your money retaining any attorney. Attorneys are bound by strict confidentiality concerns and will absolutely not run to the Government to convey your confession for use against you. There are several reasons to tell your attorney the entire facts and circumstances surrounding your case, regardless of the type of case.
First, attorneys are bound to strict confidentiality concerns; every movie involving attorneys always mentions attorney-client privilege. Arguably, the most truthful aspect of these movies is the thoroughness of this privilege. An attorney can only disclose future criminal activities, not past issues. This should be reassuring to any client since they know they can fully disclose the facts of their case without fear of it being later used against them.
Secondly, more than likely your attorney is going to eventually learn these facts. Unfortunately, they will likely either be learned during a deposition, hearing or trial, where it is usually too late to best decide how to handle it. As I have told countless clients, we can literally handle anything relating to your case, if we are aware of the fact in advance. Unfortunately, if we learn it during a hearing or trial, it is often too late to try and properly spin the fact for our advantage.
Lastly, it is important to discuss prior criminal convictions. It is absolutely critical to discuss prior criminal convictions with your criminal attorney to assist them in determining your case strategy. For example, a prior conviction could significantly enhance your maximum sentence, minimum sentence, etc. I can assure you with nearly absolute certainty that the Government is already aware of your priors, they very rarely miss the chance to enhance a sentence based on a prior. Unfortunately, too many criminal clients believe that leaving out these prior convictions will make them disappear of some sorts. We can assure you the priors will be discovered by the Government and their attorneys. Leaving this sort of information out, only creates more problems in the handling of your case in the long run.
If you have any questions about selecting an attorney, we strongly recommend folks disclose all the good and bad facts of their case with their attorney. We handle a multitude of legal issues and always offer free case consultations. If you would like to contact one of our Tampa attorneys immediately, please use the “contact us now” tab in the upper right hand corner of the website. We appreciate your time in checking out our website and look forward to hearing from you.