Atlanta International Crime Defense Attorneys

International Cases & Extradition

Facing criminal charges is scary enough in your own country. Now imagine being arrested and facing criminal charges in a court of law in a foreign country. Imagine first being arrested by foreign police, and then held in a jail far from your home and loved ones; then imagine having to appear in a court of law where you don't understand the language, culture, or the local customs.

Sound far fetched? Think again. As people travel ever more frequently for employment, business, leisure and adventure, this scenario is becoming a common one. In these international situations a whole layer of complexity is added to the criminal matter, as a person arrested and charged with a crime by a foreign court in a foreign land.

Some of the legal issues immediately raised in these situations are as follows:

• Can the person accused of the offense be released from jail while the case is pending?
• If bail is required for his release from the foreign jail, does the person have the right to bail?
• Can the accused person return to his home country while the charges against him are being investigated and while his lawyers mount his defense?
• Can the accused person's own government use its sovereign power to intercede on his behalf?
• Does the foreign court even have the right to prosecute the accused person since he is not a citizen of that country?
• How legitimate in the eyes of the world is the government sponsoring the prosecuting court?
• Is it a democratic court with proper due process and procedural safeguards, or is a court run by an internationally scorned, military dictator?
• Provided the accused person gets the opportunity to return to his home country, can the criminal case then be resolved without him returning to the foreign country?
• Do any international treaties come into play?

The answers to all these questions, of course, vary from case to case; but in all such cases these legal issues come into play either before or along with the actual facts of the case. Thus, whenever a person is accused of crime in a country other than their own, an extra layer of legal issues arises on top of the already complex matter of defending the accused person against the charges leveled against them.

"In most of the situations, it is best for the client to retain two attorneys. The first should be a international crime defense attorney who practices within the country and jurisdiction where the client was arrested and is facing charges. The second should be a criminal defense attorney who is a citizen of the client's home country" explains Attorney Dan Conaway.

"These two criminal defense attorneys should then work together, regularly communicating with one another, towards the successful resolution of the case."

So, for example, if a foreign national from the Czech Republic is arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, that client would certainly want both a lawyer who routinely practices in Georgia courts and a second attorney who is a citizen of and practices law in the Czech Republic. These two attorneys would then coordinate the client's defense as a team from "both sides of the ocean." Likewise, if a U.S. Citizen from New York is arrested and charged with a crime in Brazil, they would certainly want to retain both U.S. counsel as well as a Brazilian lawyer who practices in the court where the client is facing charges. Many times the first order of business is to get the client home to the safety of his own country and family. Then, his two lawyers can work together to defend against and refute the criminal charges brought by the foreign court.

At Conaway & Strickler, P.C. we have a personal and professional network of attorneys across the globe**. Through our professional involvement in the International Bar Association, we have established professional relationships with fellow criminal defense attorneys throughout the world. Thus, regardless of where you are arrested, we will be able to recommend local counsel to you. These are attorneys who are among the top criminal defense lawyers and legal experts within their own countries and jurisdictions.

At Conaway & Strickler, P.C. we also provide legal services to the two (2) separate groups of clients who find themselves charged with a crime in a country other than their own. We represent United States citizens who are arrested and accused of a crime in a foreign country; and we represent foreign nationals - citizens of nations other than the US - who are arrested and charged with a crime here in the United States. Regardless of whether our client is a U.S. citizen charged with a crime in a foreign court, or our client is a foreign national charged with a crime in a U.S. court, our goal is the same: to get them out of the clutches of that foreign court's power as quickly as possible, and to get the charges dismissed.

** We also have a complete network of top Criminal Defense Attorneys throughout the United States through our involvement with both the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the American Bar Association. If your case is not in a jurisdiction in which our lawyers routinely practice, then we will be happy to refer you to a fellow Atlanta Georgia criminal defense lawyer located in that part of the country where you need help.

Visit our International Crime Defense Website for more information!