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If you're facing a drug-related charge in Washington or Benton County, there is an option that most people in your situation never hear about. Not from the arresting officer. Not at booking. And often not even at arraignment, unless you have an attorney who knows to raise it. It's called Drug Treatment Court. For some eligible participants, it may provide an opportunity to avoid a conviction or significantly reduce the long-term consequences of a drug-related offense through

It's 1:30 in the morning. You're in the back of a patrol car. Or maybe you're at home and the phone just rang. Someone you care about has been arrested. Either way, the same question usually follows: What happens now? Most people have never been through the criminal justice system before. The process can feel confusing, intimidating, and difficult to understand when you're trying to make important decisions under stress. After working as both a prosecutor and a public defende

When I was a prosecutor, defendants would sometimes plead guilty on their first court appearance. No attorney. No review of the evidence. No questions asked. Some of those cases should never have survived a motion to suppress. Some of the charges were legally unsupportable. Some of those people qualified for programs that would have kept a conviction off their record entirely. They just didn't know. And nobody on the other side of the table was going to tell them. I'm on the