Felonies

Being charged with a crime can be scary and confusing. Brian Jones can help. Brian’s main focus is and always has been representing criminal defendants. Brian works hard to make the entire criminal process as easy and understandable as possible. Brian has handled many felony criminal cases. He has successfully gotten felony charges dropped for some of his clients, even obtaining an elusive Nolle Prosequi in one case.

Defense of felony charges is a complicated process. From the preliminary hearing to arraignment and pre-trial to verdict, a dedicated counselor is necessary to ensure your rights are protected. Many attorneys practice criminal defense as a side job. Brian dedicates over 90% of his time to criminal defense.

Preliminary Hearing – many attorneys choose to waive this valuable source of information. The preliminary hearing occurs when the prosecutor chooses to proceed by complaint. A municipal court judge must decide, based on evidence presented at the hearing, whether probable cause exists to institute felony proceedings. While this is an easy burden for the government to meet, the ability to see the government’s case before trial and to pin witnesses down to one version of their story is invaluable.

Arraignment – The judge will offer to read the indictment or information (the charging instrument), request a plea of guilty, not guilty, no contest or not guilty by reason of insanity, and set bond. Representation before this crucial hearing will ensure your circumstances are effectively presented to the court in order to encourage a reasonable bond.

Pre-trial – As the case is pending, the Court may schedule pre-trial conferences between the government and the defense. At these conferences, your attorney will negotiate with the government to obtain at result satisfactory to you. Issues such as pre-trial motions and eligibility for alternative dispositional programming will also be discussed.

Trial – If a satisfactory result cannot be reached by negotiation, the court will schedule a date for a trial. Having and attorney comfortable in the courtroom is critical to presentation of your case in the most positive light. Brian began his trial career in college leading Ohio Wesleyan’s mock trial team. He continued developing his trial skills in law school through a variety of trial advocacy and evidence classes in addition to his participation on The University of Akron School of Law’s nationally ranked trial team. After law school, Brian became a public defender where he spent nearly all his time in court advocating for his clients. Trial can be stressful. Brian will make sure you understand the process of trial and are prepared for the stresses of testifying well before you walk into court.

In addition to preparing you for trial, Brian will prepare your witnesses. Fact witnesses (those persons who saw what happened) need to be prepared for the trick questions of prosecutors and need to be aware of the importance of their roles in the trial. Expert witnesses are also available and hiring expert witnesses is often crucial to the outcome of a client’s case. In many cases, Brian will be able to obtain money from the court to hire experts, though in most cases, the client will have to cover the costs of expert assistance.

Appeal – After conviction, the client has a Constitutional Right to Appeal any adverse ruling of the trial court. Even upon a plea of guilty, the client has a right to appeal certain sentencing issues.

Judicial Release – If you are convicted and sentenced to prison, you may be eligible for judicial release after a period of time. Unlike other attorneys, Brian will not charge additional fees to file a Motion for Judicial Release and represent you in any hearing you may have on that motion.

Brian has represented clients on all types of felony charges including:

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