How does one get a criminal attorney?

[Procrustus]

@Anny_Middon

Suppose you’re arrested for a crime you didn’t commit. It’s heinous enough that your bail is set pretty high – say, $250,000. No one in your family has that kind of money. so you go to a bail bondsman.

Later it’s determined you didn’t do the crime. Is it all, “Gee, we’re sorry about that $25k, but these things happen”? Or is there some mechanism where you can get your money back? Do you have to sue the jurisdiction that arrested you? Does it matter if charges were dropped before your case went to trial or if the jury found you not guilty?

Almost always, no. You would be out of luck. (but lucky you weren’t convicted despite your innocence).

The exception could be if you could establish Malicious Prosecution.
https://injury.findlaw.com/torts-and-personal-injuries/malicious-prosecution.html

Just because you’re innocent, (or guilty but they couldn’t prove it), doesn’t mean the people charging you didn’t have probable cause to initiate the case.

[Saintly_Loser]

@RickJay

I have never needed a criminal attorney. I’ve needed another kind of attorney though. I’d call them and ask them who I should use.

This.

The *only *way to hire a lawyer, for any reason, is through a personal recommendation of either someone known to you (and trusted by you) who has used the services of that lawyer, or through a referral by a different kind of lawyer whom you know and trust and have used before, with satisfactory results.

I’m sorry, and I apologize to all the lawyers on SDMB, but the profession is polluted with opportunists who will simply take all your money and do nothing for you.

[Moriarty]

@Anny_Middon

Suppose you’re arrested for a crime you didn’t commit. It’s heinous enough that your bail is set pretty high – say, $250,000. No one in your family has that kind of money. so you go to a bail bondsman.

Later it’s determined you didn’t do the crime. Is it all, “Gee, we’re sorry about that $25k, but these things happen”? Or is there some mechanism where you can get your money back? Do you have to sue the jurisdiction that arrested you? Does it matter if charges were dropped before your case went to trial or if the jury found you not guilty?

Procrustus is right; If you are exonerated, usually the best that happens is that you get to go home and continue on with your life. There’s no compensation for having gone through the system - in theory, it worked like it was supposed to.

Moreover, bondsman (also called ‘sureties’, by the way) are private entities in business to make money. They do that by bonding you out of jail. If it later turns out that you probably shouldn’t have been arrested, that doesn’t mean that the bondsmen didn’t do his or her job. They won’t be in business long if they are refunding fees for work performed.

[TriPolar]

Hire an attorney then give them control of your finances. They’ll turn criminal before long.