Mount Vernon Criminal Defense Lawyer

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Getting a call from a detective or being arrested by the Mount Vernon Police Department can feel intimidating. Next thing you know, you’re facing serious criminal charges in Mount Vernon City Court.

If you’re looking for a local criminal defense lawyer in Westchester County who is a former prosecutor and is firmly committed to putting his clients first, make Michael J. McConnell your first call.

The Law Office of Michael J. McConnell handles all levels of felonies and misdemeanors. We are also available to take your call 24/7 to set up a free and confidential consultation. 

Your future and your freedom matter—and you deserve a strong defense from the start. 

Give us a call today at (914) 810-0510 if you want the Law Office of Michael J. McConnell to fight for you. 

The Law Office of Michael J. McConnell provides skilled criminal defense legal representation for individuals in Mount Vernon and the nearby area who have been arrested for possession of a loaded firearm, narcotics offenses, robbery, sex crimes, domestic violence charges, assault, grand larceny, and various other felony and misdemeanor charges.

As a former prosecutor, Michael J. McConnell has substantial real-word training and experience regarding how serious criminal charges are investigated and prosecuted. He uses this knowledge now as a criminal defense lawyer to see a case from all angles and to find where the DA’s biggest weaknesses are. 

In fact, he has handled many of the most common types of criminal charges from both sides of the courtroom (e.g., gun possession, felony narcotics charges, assaults, etc.). This allows him to prepare a strong and proactive defense that accounts for the DA’s expected strategy. 

Clients who choose the Law Office of Michael J. McConnell are often looking for a local criminal defense attorney with past experience as a prosecutor who is firmly committed to providing a higher level of service that includes frequent communication during their case and an overall proactive approach.

When you hire Michael J. McConnell, you get a trusted criminal defense lawyer who will:

· take the time to actually listen to you with compassion and nonjudgment no matter what you’re accused of

· provide you with clear, direct, and frequent communication throughout your case so that you are fully informed

· always be thoroughly prepared to fight your case from start to finish

And don’t just take our word for it. You can check out our 5-star reviews on Google from past clients who make clear that we deliver on our commitment to providing clients with quality legal representation that puts the client first.  

After you are arrested by the Mount Vernon Police Department, they will fingerprint you, take your pedigree information (name, DOB, address, etc.), and fill out arrest paperwork. 

Depending on your charge, you could be held in custody until your arraignment (first court appearance) in Mount Vernon City Court, or you could get a desk appearance ticket (DAT) telling you to show up in court on a future date.

Getting a DAT still means you’re facing criminal charges, so don’t make the mistake of thinking this isn’t serious. All a DAT does is allow you to come back to court on a different day instead of being held in custody until your arraignment. 

DATs are common in misdemeanor cases as well as some lower-level and non-violent felonies, especially if this was someone’s first ever arrest. If you get a DAT, definitely reach out to a Mount Vernon criminal defense lawyer before your court date.

In other cases, you will be held in police custody until your arraignment in Mt. Vernon City Court located at 2 Roosevelt Square North, 2nd Floor, Mount Vernon, NY 10550. The amount of time in custody before arraignment can vary, but ideally it will be within 24 hours.

If you need to speak with a lawyer before your first court appearance in Mount Vernon, the Law Office of Michael J. McConnell is available to take your call 24/7 at (914) 810-0510.

The purpose of arraignment is for you to be informed of the charges, your rights, and for the judge to either set bail or release you from custody.

This is often a very quick appearance. It’s not a hearing or trial, so don’t expect there to be any testimony from witnesses or police officers. That comes at a much later point. 

Whether a judge will release you or set bail depends largely on what you’re charged with as well as your prior criminal record and bench warrant history. 

If you are charged with a qualifying offense under CPL § 510.10(4), the judge has discretion to set bail—or even to remand you to custody if the qualifying offense is a felony. 

Qualifying offenses include various violent felonies, A-1 drug felonies, certain sex offenses, and more (including misdemeanors in some situations). 

If the judge sets bail, that means you can be kept in custody until you can pay for your release. 

If you’re remanded, that means that no amount of money can get you released unless or until there is a change in circumstances to justify release or setting bail. 

If you’re not charged with a qualifying offense, you will typically be released on your own recognizance (ROR) or with certain conditions. And even if you are charged with a bail-eligible offense, the judge still has discretion to release you if they want to. 

In some cases—especially domestic violence cases in Mount Vernon—a judge might also issue a “temporary order of protection” or “TOP” that directs you to stay away from and refrain from contacting the complainant. 

If a TOP is issued, it’s important to follow it no matter what. A violation of the order can result in additional criminal charges—perhaps even more serious ones than what you were initially charged with.  

Following an arraignment, a felony case in Mount Vernon might be adjourned for a preliminary hearing, which is also referred to as a “felony hearing.” 

At a felony hearing, the prosecutor will bring their witnesses to testify, and your defense attorney will get a chance to question them too.

This hearing can be an excellent opportunity to make early challenges to the DA’s evidence and to “lock in” key testimony in case the witnesses against you try to change their story later. 

It’s important to know that the purpose of a felony hearing is simply for the judge to determine whether there is “reasonable cause” that a felony was committed. Since this is a very low standard, even a fairly weak case can sometimes be enough for the judge to find “reasonable cause.” 

In certain cases, however, the DA might not have enough evidence to meet their burden. In that situation, a felony could be reduced to a misdemeanor or even dismissed entirely. If you were in custody, you might also be released.

In many cases, the felony case will survive the preliminary hearing, at which point the DA will typically present the case to the grand jury shortly thereafter. 

The grand jury is by its nature a largely secretive and one-sided proceeding in New York where the DA presents their witnesses and evidence to a group of citizens serving on the grand jury.

The grand jury proceedings happen without a judge to make evidentiary rulings or your attorney to challenge the witnesses through cross examination.

A criminal defendant in New York does have a right to testify before the grand jury if they want to. This is always a major strategic decision that is best made after a thorough discussion between defense counsel and their client. If the defendant chooses to testify, that would be the only time they are allowed in the grand jury. 

Similar to the felony hearing, the grand jury’s job is to determine whether there is enough evidence to establish “reasonable cause” that certain crimes were committed by the defendant. Given this low standard of proof, it’s very easy for prosecutors to get grand jury indictments in Westchester County and throughout New York. 

If you’re indicted after a felony arrest in Mount Vernon, the case continues in Westchester County Court in White Plains on a path towards a jury trial unless the case can be resolved through a plea deal or a dismissal. 

After you are arraigned on the indictment, your defense attorney might file motions to suppress any evidence or statements that the cops obtained by violating your rights. The Westchester County DA’s Office will also turn over discovery to the defense.

“Discovery” in the context of a criminal case in Westchester County means all of the evidence the District Attorney intends to use against you as well as various other materials required by under the law must be sent to your lawyer.

Typical discovery will include things like police reports, body worn camera footage, video surveillance, audio recordings like 911 calls, and much more. 

Any discovery disputes will be resolved by the judge and certain pre-trial hearings might be ordered to determine whether key evidence can be admitted at trial or must be suppressed (i.e., thrown out). 

After pre-trial hearings, the case might proceed to a jury trial, which is where 12 citizens decide whether the DA has enough evidence to prove their case “beyond a reasonable doubt”—the highest burden of proof in our entire legal system.  

The best criminal defense lawyers will always start their attack from day one. 

It all starts with a thorough interview of the client that is then followed with a thorough and independent investigation into the facts. This includes things like interviewing witnesses, preserving video, and carefully scrutinizing every step that law enforcement took. 

A diligent investigation by defense counsel can reveal key facts and insights that provide a basis for a motion to suppress evidence or a potential defense at trial. 

For example, by taking the time at the start of the case to have long, detailed conversations with their client in addition to reviewing every single second of body camera footage from the officers involved, a skilled defense lawyer might find a strong argument that the stop and frisk of their client in a gun possession case was in violation of their constitutional rights to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures. 

Another example might be in a case where a client is charged with Assault in the 1st Degree or Assault in the 2nd Degree for allegedly stabbing someone during a fight. If the defense attorney can find other witnesses that support the client’s claim for self-defense or identify key inconsistencies in the alleged victim’s narrative, that could be the key to getting the case dismissed or an acquittal at trial. 

The most important thing is that the defense attorney must be on top of things from the start. Speaking to witnesses before their memories fade and preserving video before it gets deleted can make a huge difference when someone’s future and freedom is at stake. 

Yes, it is possible for a criminal case to get dismissed if the MVPD pulled you over or stopped and frisked you without proper legal justification, but that decision will always hinge on the unique facts of any particular case under the application of a highly complex and nuanced body of law. This issue frequently comes up in arrests involving illegal firearms and narcotics possession. 

For example, after an arrest for Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd Degree for possessing a loaded gun that the police recovered from you, if their initial stop or their frisk of you wasn’t supported by reasonable suspicion that you committed, were committing, or were about to commit a crime, a judge might grant a suppression motion precluding the DA from offering the gun into evidence at trial. Without that evidence, the DA might no longer have a viable case, which then might result in a dismissal. 

The key in these cases according to New York criminal defense lawyer Michael J. McConnell is to carefully scrutinize every single step the police took during the encounter that led to the arrest.

“There is well-established case law in New York that makes very clear that the police cannot just stop and frisk someone on a hunch, which is why it is very important to pin down exactly what the officers are saying they saw and what information they had at the exact moment they did the pat down,” says criminal defense lawyer Michael J. McConnell. 

In other words, if the cops cannot credibly articulate actual facts that justify the stop, frisk, or search, a judge might find that the evidence was unlawfully obtained. Under long-standing 4th Amendment jurisprudence from the United States Supreme Court, unlawfully obtained evidence cannot typically be used at trial except under very limited exceptions.

Many cases involving a suppression motion can come down to the credibility of the testifying police officers. And to be sure, courts can sometimes be quite deferential to cops by giving significant weight to their so-called “training and experience.” 

This is why it is so important to challenge not only what they claim they saw but also what exactly their “training and experience” is. Too often, those words end up being quite empty and are nothing more than a synonym for “a hunch.”

As a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, Michael J. McConnell is very familiar with the ways that police officers might try to “tailor” their testimony to justify stops and frisks. They use certain lingo that has the potential to mislead by making a suspect’s movements seem more suspicious than they really were (e.g., “blading” their body, “furtive movements” or “suspicious bulges”). 

Challenging the officer’s version of events often comes down to preparation. For example, does the body camera footage really show blading, furtive movements, or any bulge at all (let alone one that might resemble a firearm)? What about nearby surveillance video? And what do their initial police reports say? Does that match how they are now testifying in court? 

These are the types of things (among countless others) that good defense attorneys will always consider, but the question is always whether the attorney is willing to put in the time and effort to really challenge the officer’s version of events. 

As with anything else in life, preparation matters—especially in a criminal case where someone’s freedom and their future is at stake.

Our office exists to help people just like you or your loved one who is being put through a system that too often is overly harsh and sometimes completely unjust. 

At the Law Office of Michael J. McConnell, we take pride in standing up for everyone: the innocent, the unpopular, first-time offenders, individuals with prior convictions trying to get their life back on track, people who have made a one-time mistake, those battling substance abuse issues, and college students. 

No matter who you are—or what you’ve allegedly done—you can make one call today to an attorney who is ready to stand up for you. Someone who will be on your side—no matter what.

Our office is available 24/7 to take your call at (914) 810-0510 to set you up with a free consultation by phone or an appointment for an in-person meeting with local criminal defense lawyer Michael J. McConnell. 

You may also click the button below to simply book a timeslot to receive a call from attorney Michael J. McConnell for your free consultation. 

We’re ready to fight for you. We just need you to give us a call. Let’s fight this together.

Disclaimer: This page is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Speak with a lawyer privately about your unique situation if you need legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee future outcomes.