Pre-Charge Defense Attorney Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Before any complaint is filed, your lawyer can talk to law enforcement on your behalf. Your lawyer can also advise you on what to say and what not to say. They can also gather evidence independently and communicate directly with the district attorney’s office. None of that is possible once you have already made statements to officers on your own.

Sometimes. Every case is different, and no lawyer can guarantee an outcome. What legal representation can do is put your side of the story, any legal problems with the evidence, or mitigating circumstances in front of the district attorney. This happens before a charging decision is made. That is often the best chance to keep a case from moving forward at all, or to protect your options if it does.

A police report or an open criminal investigation is not the same thing as criminal charges. A criminal complaint can only be issued by the district attorney of the county where the alleged crime happened. Law enforcement officers who investigated the case cannot issue the complaint themselves. [Wis. Stat. § 968.02]

The Wisconsin Department of Justice draws this same distinction in its own court case data. It separates the charges law enforcement books someone on from the charges the district attorney later files with the court. [Wisconsin Department of Justice, Criminal Case Data Dashboard]

Those two lists do not always match, and the space between them is exactly where pre-charge representation works. You can be investigated for months, or never charged at all. The two should not be treated as the same thing, even though both can feel just as serious. Being formally charged is what starts the court process, including your arraignment.

Before any complaint is filed, law enforcement is still building its case and gathering evidence. That can include interviewing witnesses, requesting surveillance footage or other physical evidence, or applying for a search warrant. In our experience, many of the pre-charge investigations we handle in Wisconsin start as assault investigations or internet-based investigations. That includes cases that begin after a report is forwarded to police from an online platform. We can also gather evidence on your behalf and present it directly to the district attorney’s office before any criminal charges are filed.

“The last person that law enforcement speaks to in their investigations is the suspect, because they want to gather all of the information and evidence available ahead of time so that they can confront that suspect in the end,” says Julius Kim, Managing Partner. By the time officers reach out to you, they may already have built most of their case.

A district attorney reviews the evidence law enforcement has gathered, decides which statute, if any, applies, and decides whether to file charges. That step is part of the larger criminal process. It happens before you are formally charged with anything, which is why pre-charge representation matters. A lawyer working for you during this stage can present context, raise legal problems with the evidence, or negotiate directly with that office. This work happens before that office has already moved to file charges.

Wisconsin rarely uses a traditional grand jury for state cases. Instead, a district attorney can ask a judge to open what is known as a John Doe proceeding. In that proceeding, a judge can subpoena and question witnesses to help decide whether a crime occurred and who may have committed it. [Wis. Stat. § 968.26]

Federal cases work differently. Under federal law, a grand jury reviews evidence presented by a federal prosecutor. A person under investigation can also receive a grand jury subpoena requiring them to testify or produce documents. That grand jury then decides whether there is probable cause for an indictment, all before a defendant is formally charged. [U.S. Department of Justice, Charging]

Whether your case is being investigated at the state level or involves federal crimes, this changes how we approach it. That is one of the first things our team sorts out when you call.

A minor might be involved as someone under investigation or as someone connected to a case involving another minor. Either way, our juvenile crimes team works alongside our pre-charge defense team. These cases can move through the juvenile system differently than an adult case would.

You can decline to consent to a search unless officers have a warrant. If they have a warrant, you can still decline to answer questions while the search happens. Either way, calling us before you respond gives you a chance to understand exactly what officers are asking for and why.

You are not required to have one. But many of the people we help during a pre-charge investigation tell us they wish they had sought legal counsel sooner. An experienced attorney cannot undo a statement you have already made to officers. But they can help you avoid making one that hurts your case later. The same questions come up again later in the process, when you’re deciding whether you need an attorney for your arraignment.