Ken Kissir Attorney at Law Gresham Oregon  
  Kissir Divorce & Family Law, Civil Litigation, Criminal Defense, Restraining & Stalking Orders  
 
Ken Kissir Attorney at Law - Criminal Defense

Office:

501 NE Hood Ave.

Suite 206

 Gresham 

 503-667-6114

Ken@Kissir.com

CRIMINAL CASES IN GENERAL: 

I have practiced  law for over 12 years, both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney.  I charge $50 for a consultation.  In situations where you have not yet been charged, I usually require a retainer from which I am paid on an hourly basis. If you have already been charged, then I usually charge a flat fee, the amount of which depends on the particular case.

CAN A CASE BE DISMISSED?

It is possible, and very possible in some types of cases, to have a case dismissed with no probation, no conviction and no trial.  Some cases are handled this way pursuant to a "civil compromise."  There is a strict procedure for pursuing and processing this, however, and the earlier you get a qualified attorney involved to help you, the greater the chance that you will be successful.

HOW CAN I BE CHARGED FOR SOMETHING I DIDN'T DO?

In Oregon, misdemeanors can be charged by the deputy district attorney simply signing their name to the citation or to a document entitled "Information," which is a formal document charging you with a crime.

Felonies can be initially charged by Information, however, must be subsequently charged through a Preliminary Hearing or a Grand Jury Indictment.  If you are facing a felony charge you should retain a qualified attorney prior the Grand Jury hearing evidence and deliberating - you can be indicted in a matter of minutes. When is the Grand Jury? You don't know! It's not public information.  You need an attorney to touch base with the deputy district attorney to find out what is going on, and maybe provide him or her information about the case they may not have.  Having been a prosecutor, I can tell you that the DDA doesn't know everything about the case, and may very well be receptive to evidence that supports your innocence.  In most cases the prosecutor would rather find out that their case is a bad one before they put it in front of a Judge and jury.

Many people who call me are understandably perplexed that they are facing a criminal charge, because they are innocent.  What you need to understand is that the charge is probably based on incomplete or innacurate information.  Police officers sometimes don't care about conducting a full and complete investigation.  They sometimes distort what people tell them, or misunderstand what people tell them, and this is why you should always assert your right to remain silent when being investigated. 

HOW MUCH DO YOU CHARGE?

Every case is different, but I typically charge a flat fee due up front, and then an additional fee a week or so prior to trial.  I like doing it that way for a couple of reasons: One is that you can call me as often as you need to because it's a flat fee and you are not charged hourly.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood and want to see me, you can drop by and if we talk for a few minutes you won't see it on a bill. 

Second, sometimes I have a case where my client is not denying guilt, and is not intending on going to trial.  The focus is on minimizing the consequences by way of negotiating with the prosecutor, and sentencing outcomes.  You shouldn't have to pay me the same fee that you would were you going to trial, since obviously there is less work involved.  Or, in some cases where my client is innocent but fears being convicted and suffering severe consequences, and that despite my skills I know that a guilty finding is very possible,  if I am able to persuade the DDA to offer what I think is a good settlement offer, I want you to know that I am looking out for you - not me - in advising you to accept it.  If we go to trial, I make more money.  So I have no personal interest in advising you to take the deal. I want you to believe in me and what I am telling you.

I also represent clients in probation violation matters, diversion revocations, traffic infraction and violations, DMV matters, and expungements.

I accept MasterCard and Visa 

  

CRIMINAL CHARGES:

I represent men and women who are facing criminal charges, or who are being accussed and/or investigated for charges, in Oregon and Washington State and the Federal system.  I work out of my office here in downtown Gresham at 501 NE Hood Ave, Suite 260. 

Most State Court criminal charges are issued by the District Attorney's Offices in each County.  The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office is located at the Portland Courthouse, however, many misdemeanor matters are charged and handled at the Gresham Circuit Court building on Powell.  My office is a few minutes away from this courthouse.

If you have been charged or are being investigated for allegedly committing a crime, it is urgent and important that you seek legal advice immediately.  The sooner you have a qualified experienced criminal defense attorney representing you, the better able that attorney will be to protect your rights.  In a DUII case, for example, you must request a hearing with DMV to contest your license suspension within 10 days of your citation or you forever lose that right.

Two of the most common situations that people come to me about are Driving Under the Influence (DUII) and Expungements of arrests and convictions.

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE:

A DUII case is very technical, and is actually more complicated than many felony cases.  You can read alot about DUII cases on various web sites.  If it comes from an attorney it should be credible, but please don't take the advice of friends or associates to heart, without verifying what they are telling you.  I'm not going to spend much time informing you about the law here, because there is so much to tell, and because the information is best given in the context of what exactly happened to you.  However, a few basic things you should know:

DUII cases involve not only the court system, but also the department of motor vehicles.  You absolutely need to hire a qualified attorney ASAP.  This is in part because of the right to contest the DMV suspension. 

There is a program called "diversion," which can divert someone out of the criminal system.  This program is available for most first time offenders, but there are some specific exclusions for a variety of reasons. People who are eligible for the program often accept the diversion deal, because it is a much better outcome then going to trial and being convicted.  However, with a decision as important as this you should be fully informed and understand all of the important aspects of your case.  Just because a police officer arrested and gave you a citation, it doesn't mean that the district attorney's office will charge you.  Even with diverison, you must enter a plea, and you don't get to change your mind and go to trial later on.

As I said earlier, DUII cases are very technical.   The police have to have a basis to stop you. There has to be a basis to arrest you.  They always impound your car, and this then allows them to conduct an inventory search.  Did they find something?  Was that legal?  Did they exceed the scope of a valid search?  What if they find a small amount of marijuana, do the search and seizure laws protect you against prosecution of possessing that? There are often field sobriety tests done, can the cop make you peform them? Does anyone ever pass them? Can you stand on one leg and not use your arms to sway, even when you are 100% sober?  Do you think the officer can do that?  Do you think that being nervous and having trouble finding your vehicle registration is the result of being intoxiacted, or rather the result of being nervous and scared? The officer will note that behavior as a sign of intoxication.  Did you provide a breath sample?  The breath test result can be admitted into evidence against you only if the police correctly followed certain specific procedures. The Oregon Administrative Rules specify the procedures, and the Courts interpret them.  Sometimes you don't even realize until the DMV hearing that the police did something wrong, because that's the only opportunity prior to trial that your attorney can question what they said happened.

For example, anyone investigated for a DUII has undergone "the eye test." It's referred to as "HGN" which stands for Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus.  People often think they "passed" becase they didn't move their head or their eyes while the cop pointed the flashlight in their eyes and held up his pen or finger in front of them.  What you are looking at, and the movement of your head, really have nothing to do with it.  Even if you believe in the validity of this test, it's not based on those things, but rather on an involuntary movement of your nystagmus, which is rated on a point system.  There are many variables that can account for "nystagmus" independent of being intoxicated, but this HGN evidence can be very persuasive to a jury because the officer is an experienced witness and uses alot of big words that sound scientific.  The HGN test is sometimes the most important thing that the officer has to support probable cause to arrest you, which leads to the breath test.   If there is no probable cause, then the breath test is inadmissible.  Without that, all the State usually has is the officer's observations and his testimony about the field sobriety test.  Many times, without the breath test result, there is no case for the State.

However, if you refuse to provide a legally requested breath test, you lose your license through DMV for alot longer, whether the State prosecutes you or not.

If you are arrested, and give a breath test that is too low, the police will usually then assume that you must be under the influence of a controlled substance.   If their field sobriety test results in signs of intoxication, and you blow a .01, either (1) the field sobriety tests are not accurate, or (2) you are under the influence of something other then alcohal.  The Officer will then try and find a DRE (drug recognition expert) to conduct certain field sobriety tests similar to those for alcohal use, to give an opinion on whether you are under the influence of that.  Each police departement typically has a few officers who are certified as DREs.

I charge a flat fee in most DUII cases. If you are diversion eligible and are fairly certain that you will enter the diversion program, I charge a low flat fee to appear on your behalf at the arraignment, schedule the diversion hearing, obtain the discovery (i.e. police reports) from the State, request the DMV hearing, appear with you at the DMV hearing and cross-examine the officer, meet with you to complete the paperwork to enter diversion, appear with you in Court for diversion and help you through the process of diversion itself.  The amount of the flat fee depends on the Court that you are charged in, whether there are any other charges in addition to the DUII, and whether the District Attorney's Office is objecting to the diversion.  That is the only money you have to pay me.  If you change your mind about diversion, and decide instead to go to trial, that is fine with me (and very well may be the right decision), but there is an additional fee for trial. The specific amount depends on whether there are other charges, and so forth.

EXPUNGEMENTS: MAKING IT LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED:

An Expungement is a court order that essentially makes a prior arrest or conviction something that never happened...

When you have an arrest or conviction "set aside," you are legally correct in later denying it ever happened.  Certain convictions can get in the way of people leasing an apartment, or getting a job.  It isn't always that people are unforgiving, for example I have seen many times where clients were unable to rent from a management company because of a felony conviction over ten years old, and that was for something that did not involve hurting anyone, only because the insurance provider won't allow the company to rent to "felons."

One time, the management company liked my client so much, they kept calling me to see when the expungement would be final, so that they would be allowed to rent to him!

If you were arrested or cited for something, and never charged, you can usually expunge it after one-year from the arrest or cite.  If you were charged but the case was dismissed, you may be able to expunge it immediately.  Convictions that are otherwise eligible can be expunged three years after the conviction.

It is important to take advantage of this right as soon as possible, because intervening events can suspend and delay the right to expunge.  For instance, let's say that you were arrested for something that you didn't do.  The district attorney declines charging you, and one year passes since the arrest.  You can and should file the motion to expunge then, but you don't.  Sometime later, you are arrested for a DUII and are convicted.  You can't expunge the DUII, because driving crimes are not eligible to set aside, however, you want to expunge the first charge, because you were innocent.

Now you have a problem, because in order to set aside anything, even the first case, you can't have been convicted of anything else within the last 10 years of your motion! Well, you were convicted of the DUII this year, so you now have to wait at least 10 more to set aside the first case.  This is why seeking expungement once you are eligible is so important.

If you want to seek expungement of an arrest or conviction, or if you are unsure whether or not a past case was expunged - give me a call to discuss your options.