You will never forget what you were doing when you got the phone call…
On a day that couldn’t be more normal, your cell phone lights up with an incoming call from a phone number you’ve never seen before. It’s your son, and you can tell immediately something is terribly wrong. His voice is different, small somehow. Definitely not what it sounded like when he was at your house for dinner two nights ago, teasing you about something silly you did as a parent when he and his siblings were little.
When the call finally comes, your heart stops. Your son is calling you from jail. and all you can think of is, “Thank God, maybe now he’ll get some help.”
You immediately wonder: is he hurt? Is he calling from the hospital? Has he been in a car accident? What’s wrong? You would never believe your son, an upstanding member of the community, would be calling you from jail. As he hurriedly, and cryptically tells you the news that he, your child that you’ve painstakingly loved and cared for since the day he was born, has been arrested and charged with a terrible crime. Your world just as hurriedly comes unraveled. You can barely focus on the details he is trying to relay before “they” take the phone away from him. His next call will have to be through some kind of pre-paid service he tries to tell you about so you can somehow ‘set that up’. This can’t be happening!
You have no idea what to do next. Your son mentions something about a hearing the next day to determine bail and that he needs a lawyer. The little bit he told you about the charges are completely unbelievable. They have the wrong guy. Your child would never do that – someone is lying. You realize you’re screaming that into the phone when your son has to stop you, and says,
“Please, just find me a lawyer,
I’m going to need one.”
You google “How to find a defense attorney” and you are met with millions of results. As you’re weeding through articles with titles like “10 tips to finding the best criminal defense attorney” and “Signs of a bad criminal lawyer”, your mind wanders to what your child might be experiencing right now. You’ve heard the horror stories of county jails with hardened criminals mixed in with ‘regular’ people like your child. You wonder how long it’s been since he's eaten, and if anyone is threatening him right now. You’re sure “they” don’t see the same person you see when you look at him. Your son is not a criminal.
When did he say the hearing is? Tomorrow? How do I get to the courthouse? I’ve never even had to go there before. How does bail work? Do I have to find a bail bondsman too? Scenes from “Dog, the Bounty Hunter” race through your mind…
You dial the first attorney, one of many conversations you’re going to have with attorneys over the coming days…