Our criminal defense attorneys in Lexington defend Kentuckians who have been accused of committing crimes. Criminal charges can be devastating to both the person accused, and to the person’s family. The outcome of a case involving criminal charges can have far-reaching consequences in reputation, self-esteem, employment and even one’s relationship with family. Sometimes the outcome of a criminal case can mean the difference between whether a family could be able to stay together, or be able to remain financially secure. We understand.
In any case involving a criminal charge, the Commonwealth has the burden of proving you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Our attorneys hold them to that standard. When you walk in with an attorney from Cooley Iuliano Robey, the prosecutor knows they are in for a battle. Our attorneys proudly practice criminal defense in each county of the state. There is no greater cause than defending a person’s freedom, and our attorneys take that responsibility seriously. Allow our team to fight for you!
Proven Success
Many people feel that once you’ve been charged by a police officer, you are out of options. This is simply untrue. Our clients enjoy aggressive criminal defense that holds the Commonwealth to their burden of proving your charge beyond a reasonable doubt. Our attorneys use various methods, from formal discovery to Freedom of Information Act requests, to procure evidence in your case in a very fast manner. It is not uncommon for our clients to have more information and evidence that the police officer or prosecutor.
By knowing what to look for, and knowing when, how and why to look for it, our attorneys scour every shred of evidence available in your case to build your defense. While we can’t make you any guarantees on the outcome of your case, we can guarantee that no stone will go untouched. You can count on us to see every case through and aggressively pursue that every case be dismissed.
Traffic Charges
Many people receive traffic citations each day. Very often, in compliance with court orders, the person cited would show up to court alone and pay a fine and court costs, or “pre-pays” the ticket, meaning they just mail in the payment or pay at the court clerk’s office before the scheduled court appearance. Before doing so, you should consider the services of a defense attorney, because even traffic violations can have effects upon insurance rates or your driving privileges. A driver with a Kentucky operator’s license is subject to a point system. Many traffic violations result in “points” being added to your driving record, and if you accumulate too many points, your license may be suspended, or you may be placed on probation. There is also an option to attend traffic school to avoid or reduce any “points” on your license in many cases.
DUI – Driving Under the Influence
Facing DUI charges in Kentucky is a serious matter that should not be handled alone. If you have been charged with driving under the influence, we understand that you are overwhelmed with concerns regarding jail time, losing your driver’s license, or any penalties or financial burdens that may await you.
In general, DUI charges can be given in Kentucky for either driving under the influence of alcohol, or driving under the influence of drugs. Both charges carry the same penalties. Our strategy for defense is a bit different for the two charges. Having a DUI attorney that understands the magnitude of your charges understands how to defend you is very important. Perhaps even more important is having an attorney who has fought and successfully defended these charges. Don’t sign up for an expensive attorney who will make you plead guilty. You have a right to a good and just defense!
Drug Crimes
If you have been charged with drug crimes, you are potentially facing stiff penalties such as hefty fines and lengthy jail or prison sentences. You will need an experienced defense attorney to fight diligently to protect your constitutional rights. Our firm and law office makes it a priority to become educated in defenses of drug crimes and other controlled substance offenses. Our defense lawyers are members of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Kentucky Bar Association, and some of only a few Kentucky drug attorneys belonging to the National College for DUI Defense.
Violent Crimes
The Commonwealth of Kentucky defines a violent crime as an offense involving the use of force or injury to another person’s body. It should also be noted that solely the threat of injury against another person is enough for a violent crime charge. Violent Crime charges are treated as either misdemeanors or felonies depending on the severity of the crime. But even if they are misdemeanors, any type of violent crime can carry penalties that range from five years in jail to life in prison or even the death penalty in cases like murder and manslaughter, which is why obtaining the services of a defense attorney Lexington against violent crime chargers is the first thing you need to do when faced with charges like these.
A violent crime can be a misdemeanor when it’s something like assault in the fourth degree; but frequently they are serious felonies, ranging as punishments for murder, manslaughter, reckless homicide, assault, a firearm or weapons offense, sexual offense or rape, terrorism, and even arson.
White Collar Crimes
White collar crimes in Kentucky, and in most of the United States, are defined as non-violent offenses and involve fiscal matters such as fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, securities fraud, insider trading, identity theft and others—typically by professionals in business or government, for direct or indirect financial gain. Being accused of a crime is enough to ruin your reputation and even your livelihood in the long run, which is why you need the protection, resources, and expertise of a white collar crime lawyer as soon as you’re accused.
Penalties for white collar crimes can be severe, from harsh and very expensive fines to long prison sentences. Even if the most common punishment is time in minimum-security prisons, there’s no reason it can be something even harsher, especially if substantial amounts of money are involved and when we’re not dealing with something as simple as lying on your insurance application. White collar crimes like tax fraud, credit card fraud, insider trading and fraud against the government are especially harshly punished and sometimes even handed over to federal prosecutors. You can even be facing years of jail time if convicted for marketing fraud, election law violations like illegal campaign financing or trying to corrupt a local official with an unlawful compensation as bribe. Take white collar crime allegations seriously and get professional legal representation as soon as possible.
Property Crimes
A property damage crime in Kentucky shouldn’t be left to the will of a judge. We’re talking here about crimes like theft, burglary, arson, robbery, and others that result in either probation or even jail time if it’s charged as a felony. In many cases, an experienced lawyer is also the intricacies of being charged with unintentional trespassing on a private estate between breaking and entering, or theft by unlawful taking, for example. Even something as relatively minor-sounding like “criminal mischief,” which can be spraying graffiti on a wall or damaging someone else’s car on purpose, can be a misdemeanor or land you in jail for up to five years with a felony conviction. You need proper legal defense against a property crime in Kentucky.
A lot of small but important factors are taken into consideration and evaluation when determining whether you are facing jail time or only a fine, like the value of a stolen property you are accused of stealing or the fact if you knew or not that you shouldn’t be on a property; factors like these are the difference between no punishment or days in prison including a thousands of dollars in fines. Be prepared and hire the experienced team of lawyers at Cooley Iuliano Robey PLLC.
Sex Crimes
Any sex crime charge, even if not convicted, can ruin the rest of your life, both in the form of reputation and serious prison time. You must acquire the services of an aggressive sex crime attorney that will defend your case, be it a misdemeanor or a felony charge.
The Kentucky Revised Statutes, Chapter 510, classifies a sex crime as any action against another person’s sex organs, the anus, female breast, or any intent to be sexually aroused, gratified, or abuse another person. Sex crimes in Kentucky can range from sexual assault, rape, molestation, sodomy, child abuse, prostitution, soliciting, lewd conduct, along with acts or materials of such nature that a criminal does or uploads onto the cyber space, like the prevalence of child pornography in some parts of the web wherein people have or share a sensitive image with ease on the internet, social media or chat. And physical conduct is not even necessary to be convicted of a sex crime. Such as when exposing or touching yourself in front of another person will lead to sex crime charges filed against you. Of course, a much more physical and violent sex crime will lead to a harsher felony charge and penalties. Several factors that will be taken into account for your prosecution will be your criminal record, history of former sex crimes, the harm perpetrated to the alleged victim, your intent, and more. An experienced group or team of Kentucky defense attorneys is essential to any sex crime offense charge.
Misdemeanors
We understand how serious the fallout from a misdemeanor charge can be. We take our job defending you just as seriously as we do with felony charges. Our attorneys use various methods – from formal discovery to Freedom of Information Act requests – to quickly gather all of the available evidence about your case. This evidence is then used to start to create and develop your misdemeanor defense strategy. No person should have to go up against the government alone – hire our team of skilled criminal defense attorneys to defend you and defend your rights!
Felonies
Our firm represents people throughout the entire Commonwealth who have been accused of committing any class of felony of any degree. Regardless of the circumstance, you, our client, are entitled to legal representation and are entitled to raise any available defense. We offer aggressive and skilled representation to individuals accused of felony criminal offenses. Allow our team of criminal defense attorneys to help you.
Weapon and Gun Crimes
First, there needs to be an important distinction made between weapons or deadly weapons, and firearms or guns. A deadly weapon is anything besides guns or firearms, and that can be a knife, brass knuckle, hunting knife, nunchucks, and a wide array of weapons. A firearm or gun is “any weapon which will expel a projectile by the action of an explosive,” according to the content of statute 237.060(2) of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. Although Kentucky has more lax laws regarding firearm and weapons possession, there are still a lot of gray areas where a weapon and gun attorney will be key for expert insights and to avoid even the lightest sentence of a misdemeanor. Some deadly weapons require concealed carry permits while others don’t, and then are only allowed in certain conditions.
Any criminal charge, whether it be a robbery, assault, drug trafficking, or theft, can be made worse by possessing a firearm at the moment of the arrest as well, while those who were previously convicted of a felony are barred from ever possessing a firearm again. These and more reasons are why an experienced Lexington KY criminal defense attorney is part of any basic weapon and gun charge trial.
Non-Violent Crimes
A non-violent crime in Kentucky can be a very broad definition as simply an offense that is serious but without the use of violence. Crimes like disorderly conduct, illegal gaming and gambling, harassment, drug trafficking or any narcotics offense, eavesdropping, stalking, or a white collar crime even. Whatever the offense, you need the most experienced lawyers in Kentucky to help you navigate your defense from any non-violent crime charge. And even the most common types of non-violent crimes, like a disorderly conduct charge because of unreasonable noise in public places like a neighborhood street, threatening someone in a bar fight or creating overall public annoyance, can lead to a year of jail time or more. It’s especially worse if alcohol, children, spouses or elderly people are involved.
It’s important to not be fooled by non-violent offenses. They aren’t always solely punishable by misdemeanors. Your criminal record, intent, type of offense, the victim, whether you are possessing a firearm or deadly weapon, all these factors can lead to years in jail or harsh fines. Don’t be left unprotected and take control. Get in contact with and hire the services of experienced law professionals in Kentucky to defend you against any offense.
Obstruction of Justice
The crime of obstructing justice can be defined in Kentucky and elsewhere in the United States as interfering with criminal investigations, prosecution or enforcement of any law, either by delaying or trying to prevent it. A criminal defense attorney who also has great regard for having a great client relationship during every case and experience in obstruction of justice can help you avoid the harshest punishments for this crime, which should not be taken lightly.
Anybody can be accused of it, even private citizens, but it’s most common a charge brought against government officials, law enforcement agents, prosecutors, elected officials, and even judges. And they can carry a steep prison term. In the lightest of cases, you can be charged with a misdemeanor, but obstruction of justice can be the real reason somebody accused other more serious offenses—like fraud, theft, terrorism, and even murder—are sent to years in prison.
Expungement
Expungement is when you want to eliminate or delete a crime or any offense from your record. Eliminating a previous offense from your record, no matter how insignificant or if you were acquitted, can make you less likely to be accepted for a job, to rent, be approved for credit cards or a loan, and other consequences. Kentucky makes expungement possible when you petition a court to eliminate an offense from your criminal record, with the process being relatively fast. Expungement in Kentucky is now easier thanks to a new law that will allow some Class D felonies to be deleted, or because of other circumstances like errors in your trial. Of course, not all crimes can be expunged (like those involving children, sex crimes, serious offenses, federal charges) and expungement is not a pardon. You need an experienced criminal defense lawyer, especially one that’s familiar with the new Kentucky expungement law, to avoid wasting time and money on a request of expungement that won’t be accepted.
Federal Crimes
A federal crime is when you break federal law and are prosecuted by any federal law enforcement institution like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration or even the Internal Revenue Service. When is a crime you commit in Kentucky a federal crime? When it’s on federal land or property, you are being investigated for a crime that is mostly prosecuted by the federal government, like tax evasion, fraud, drug trafficking, or maybe even murder in many jurisdictions. If you are accused of a federal crime, that normally leads to very harsh penalties and jail sentences in federal prison, so it’s paramount you hire the services of an expert lawyer to defend you in federal court—and in Lexington Kentucky that means the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
You Deserve Top of the Line Criminal Defense
There is no more stressful period in one’s life than facing criminal charges. Our attorneys always explain to our clients the full roadmap of their case, potential plans of action and keep them informed each step of the way. Your liberty is on the line. Don’t fight the government alone. Hire a team of skilled professionals to examine each aspect of your case, build a strong defense and fight for your rights!