What to Expect From Solicitation Charges in DC

If you have been arrested for solicitation in Washington, DC it is important you know what to expect as you attempt to fight your charges through the judicial system. Read below to learn more about fighting these charges, or call today to schedule a free consultation with an experienced DC solicitation lawyer.

After an arrest for a first attempt solicitation charge, usually what happens is you are booked and processed by metropolitan police department, which usually takes about 2-3 hours. Then you’re released with a citation to return to court at a later date.

That later date is called the arraignment hearing and at your arraignment hearing you appear before a judge to be officially charged with a crime.

If you’re planning to hire a lawyer, you should do so prior to your arraignment date and have that lawyer accompany you to the arraignment hearing to handle the entry of a “not guilty” plea as well as other legal and administrative matters on your behalf. Your lawyer will then have the opportunity to review the evidence against you, discuss the case with a prosecutor, and explore possible resolutions.

How Can a Solicitation Attorney Help?

Most importantly an attorney can do everything in his or her power to keep your record as clean as humanly possible. The fortunate thing is that for attorneys who handle these cases often they’re aware of the different possible options and what to look for when negotiating for a favorable resolution with the United States Attorney’s office.

So lawyers who are used to dealing with these cases know exactly what to look for, know what the possible results are and know what your best case scenario is and worst case scenarios can be and can work directly towards your best case scenario.

Recent Trends in DC Solicitation Cases

In my work with these cases the United States Attorney’s office is often eager to resolve them quickly just based on the number of them that they have. As an attorney we like to take full advantage of their desire to resolve the case quickly by working towards results that can get your charges dismissed and reduce the chances that you ever have to admit that you committed a crime at all.

Eventually Washington DC will work towards decriminalizing prostitution in the same way that marijuana has been decriminalized or legalized over time. The government will eventually come to the conclusion that it is not worth the time and expense to arrest people on this charge for limited public benefits. Eventually, I believe they’ll get around to a position of this no longer being a criminal issue.