The Cases I Handle
I take criminal cases big and small. What matters to me is that, as your attorney, I want to be able to make a positive difference in the outcome. Criminal defense is about facts. My goal is to know the facts better than the prosecutors and to use the facts to your advantage.
Representing a client charged with child pornography in Danbury Superior Court. (Photo: H. John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media)
I took over a case from another attorney where the client was charged with Home Invasion, which carries a ten-year mandatory minimum. His previous attorney told him to plead guilty to the charge. After extensive negotiations, I got that charge dropped, reducing the client’s effective sentence by eight years.
A male nurse was accused of sexually assaulting a female patient who came into a hospital to detox. Medical records alone ran into hundreds of pages, and there were close to a dozen witnesses involved. Our investigators took statements, and an expert pharmacist discussed the effects of the drugs the patient was administered. I wrote a long letter detailing our findings that the patient hallucinated, and also that the video from the hallway revealed the accusations could not have logistically happened. The State’s Attorney decided to drop the case.
The client was charged with Assault 2 and came to me after she complained her previous attorney wasn’t returning her calls. I was able to show the prosecutor the other party was a drug dealer and hence an unreliable witness, and the charge was dropped.
A client was accused of stealing checks from his neighbor’s mailbox and cashing them. Our investigators went to the scene and discovered no lock on the front door, nor on the mailbox. They took photos. We also learned the neighbor was not in the country legally, and was not only working under a false name, but the checks he claimed were stolen were sent to him under the false name. The State’s Attorney dropped the charges.
Took over a case from another attorney where a young man was charged with Possession with Intent to Sell and Illegal Possession of a Firearm. I was able to get the drug charges dropped and two years shaved off his offer.
A client was arrested after drinking too much at a family gathering and allegedly striking his ex-wife. He was a hunter, and had already used the Family Violence Education Program (FVEP). A conviction would have meant him giving up his guns. I was able to get the State’s Attorney to agree that if the client paid for treatment equivalent to the FVEP, and got a good letter from his therapist, she would drop the charges, which she eventually did.
Taking Over Cases From Other Attorneys
A very large percentage of my cases are ones I take over from other attorneys after their clients have grown displeased. The most common complaints are: (1) my attorney is not returning my phone calls; (2) I don’t know what is happening in my case, and; (3) I do not feel like my attorney is doing anything for me.
I have never taken over a case where I did not obtain a better result than the previous attorney. I will always treat you with respect and communicate with you as much as you need!
The Big Cases
High-stakes cases are my specialty: carjacking, sexual assault, murder and homicide, child pornography, auto theft, gun cases, and large dollar amount larcenies. I love the challenge of taking on complex, fact-based cases that often require the services of investigators so that we know and understand what happened better than the State does.
Knowing the facts of your case better than the State does, and then using those facts to your advantage—that is the secret to success in serious cases, and I work only with the best investigators in the state.
We examine video footage, we re-interview witnesses, we develop alibis, find problems with the police investigations, and then introduce the evidence to the State’s Attorneys in a manner that allows them to feel justified in accepting a lower sentence—or dropping the charges completely.
Where appropriate, I will also ask you to go into therapy, since when a defendant successfully completes a therapy series, State’s Attorneys feel more comfortable in either lowering or dropping charges.
The Smaller (But Just as Important) Cases
I started as a public defender, where each day I represented people charged with small larcenies, drug offenses, domestic violence assaults, harassment, trespass, breach of peace, and criminal mischief crimes. These cases require an attorney, as there are ways to navigate through the system, often by getting you into what is known as a “diversionary program,” (that is, a program that diverts the person charged from punishment into treatment), and I can help you do that, as I have done for hundreds of people before you.
Addiction, Mental Health, and Domestic Violence Matters
A stunningly large number of people facing criminal charges are grappling with drug addiction, mental health, or alcohol-related issues. Again, I will first get to know you well, developing a level of trust where you feel comfortable being honest with me, and then I will work with the State’s Attorney to see if we can get you into a program instead of into prison.