One of the more common questions I get from individuals or family members or clients is what do I do when a loved one’s been arrested? What’s going to happen next? There’s usually four different questions I ask to follow up. One, I want to find out if the matter was a misdemeanor. Two, I want to find out if there was a warrant, was there an arrest warrant in this case. Three, was it a domestic violence matter or four, was it a felony? For all of these, family, yourself, you should look to get an attorney right away. With a misdemeanor case it’s likely that the individual who was arrested will be released that evening on citation, which is a court document that gives a court date for them to come back.

If the matter is a warrant, if it’s an arrest warrant, they’ll likely be held and brought over to the precinct, held overnight, and brought over to the district court or DC Superior Court the following morning. When this happens it’s very important that the family retains an attorney and sends them over to visit them in the central holding block or the jail before they actually are brought to the court. This allows us to meet with them, find out what’s going on with the case, calm them down, let them know that we are to fight for them, and get them out.

With domestic violence cases it’s also similar where if there is a domestic violence arrest due to DC law, the individual will be held. They’ll be held overnight and brought to court the next day. And with domestic violence cases it’s also important to have an attorney go meet with them. The attorney can go meet with them over at the central holding block or in the following morning at the DC Superior Court. If an individual is arrested on a felony they will also be held overnight, brought over to central cellblock and in the following morning they will be likely presented over in DC Superior Court or in federal court.

So in all these situations what we want the family to know, we want friends to know, we want the client to know that we’re here to fight for them and that we’re here to be there for them. In all cases what the family should do is contact a lawyer, contact an attorney who works in Washington, DC and get them in there to meet with the person that you care about.