The three advantages of Nakamura International Criminal Defense:
1. A former public prosecutor to defend you aggressively against criminal charges
A lawyer specializing in criminal cases who was once a public prosecutor himself will aggressively defend your case.
Nakamura International Criminal Defense is a law firm specializing in criminal cases. The founding partner has many years' experience actually prosecuting criminal cases as an investigating prosecutor. If you are facing a criminal prosecution, our team of professionals will be your most powerful ally and defend you to the hilt.
2. Reasonable legal fees with no hidden costs
When you retain a lawyer, one concern is inevitably the cost.
At Nakamura International Criminal Defense we set reasonable legal fees with no hidden costs, and disclose them fully.
With a regular case involving a combination of a retainer and contingency fees, we scrupulously explain how much you will be charged in total if we accept your case, and clearly specify in the contract in what circumstances the contingency fee will be charged. So you will never face unexpected extra fees later on.
3. A commitment to getting the best results by defending you vigorously
At Nakamura International Criminal Defense, we always strive to get the best results for you in the face of the fact that Japan has a 99.8% conviction rate. Our past achievements include:
- A not-guilty verdict in a drug-trafficking case where the prosecution demanded a 15-year jail sentence and a 5 million yen fine
- A not-guilty verdict in a case of false charges of embezzlement
- A suspended sentence at appeal, after the defendant switched to Nakamura International Criminal Defense, in a case where the initial sentence was actual jail time
In a criminal case a lawyer plays a crucial role.
If someone you love - a family member or a friend -- is arrested and becomes entangled in a criminal case, the first thing you will doubtlessly ask yourself is whether or not to hire a lawyer. True, there are people who do not, on the grounds that hiring a lawyer would make no difference anyway given Japan's 99% conviction rate. But in a criminal case a lawyer plays a crucial role.
Having a lawyer provides access to extensive information and lets the accused communicate with their family.
Imagine that one day you suddenly get a phone call from the police telling you a family member has been arrested. When that happens to you, it is so nerve-racking that you cannot even sleep at night. What on earth happened? What is the nature of the incident involved? When will the police let your loved one come home? What will he or she do for a change of clothes? Should you notify their workplace of the incident? The worries for the family are endless. But the police will not tell you why your loved one has been arrested or when they will be released; indeed, they will reveal nothing about the specifics of the case or what will happen next. That is because criminal investigations are basically conducted in secret, and to prevent destruction of evidence no information is released.
As a family member, you will probably be unwilling to believe only the police's side of the story. You will want to see your loved one in person and ask them about the incident that led to the accusation.
Visits are often in effect restricted immediately after arrest. Even if you do get to see your loved one, the time will be limited, and if a police officer is present, you will not be able to talk about the case.
At times like these a lawyer can be your best friend.
A lawyer is in a position to gather as much information as possible on the case by meeting with police and prosecutors. A lawyer can also quickly determine the alleged facts that led to the arrest by, for example, requesting a certified copy of the detention warrant.
In addition, a lawyer can immediately meet the arrested person without anyone else present, and get them to explain in person the details of the crime of which they are suspected. At that time the lawyer can also convey a message from worried family members. For anyone who has been arrested, it is an immense source of encouragement to receive a message from a lawyer telling them that they are not alone, that their whole family is concerned about them. In that regard a lawyer also acts as the arrested person's psychological counselor.
Thus hiring a lawyer to handle a criminal defense case gives you access to incomparably more information about the case than if you had no lawyer. Plus a lawyer can act as go-between for both the person arrested and concerned family members.
That is why it is so important to appoint a lawyer as soon as possible - and to choose a lawyer with extensive experience in defending criminal cases. After all, there are many lawyers out there who have not handled a criminal case in years.
With a lawyer, you can avoid being subjected to improper interrogation and unnecessarily held in custody.
Furthermore, by hiring a lawyer you can avoid being subjected to improper interrogation and unnecessarily held in custody.
The investigation of a criminal case always comes perilously close to violating human rights; that is one of the big differences between criminal and civil cases. The investigating officers will hound the suspect mercilessly in an attempt to secure conclusive evidence that he or she is the culprit - that is, to obtain a confession. That can lead to the use of illegal interrogation techniques like intimidation and deception. What is more, it sometimes happens that suspects are held in custody for longer than is justified because their period of detention has been unnecessarily extended or they have been rearrested.
The suspect's family will be worried sick.
"Is he being handled roughly by the police?"
"What's the detective who's investigating the case like?"
"Is he being brutally interrogated for hours on end each day?"
"He's easily intimidated, so he may get scared and say he did it when he didn't."
But the family will be powerless to help.
Your lawyer, being a professional attorney with an in-depth knowledge of criminal procedures, will work on behalf of the family to look out for signs of illegal investigation techniques being used, and inform the person who has been arrested of their rights as a suspect and advise them as appropriate. If necessary - if, for example, illegal interrogation techniques have been used - your lawyer will protest in the strongest terms to the investigating authorities, and invoke the full range of legal options available, such as seeking revocation of detention. The very fact that you have a lawyer is in itself effective in deterring the investigating authorities from resorting to illegal investigation techniques.
Thus in a criminal case, the assistance of a lawyer is indispensable to protect the human rights of the person arrested and defending their interests.
Helping negotiate a settlement with the victim.
In a criminal case a lawyer is also essential to negotiating an out-of-court settlement with the victim.
It is not uncommon for people who have committed a crime or injured another person to return to their senses upon being arrested and feel remorse. "What an awful thing I've done," they tell themselves. "I'm so sorry." Their family members feel the same way. They desire somehow to apologize to the victim and pay their medical expenses and provide compensation; if possible, they would also like the victim to forgive the person arrested, retract the victim's report to the police, and withdraw the criminal complaint. For the victim, too, redress in the form of monetary compensation is a major concern. Thus negotiating an out-of-court settlement is extremely important in a criminal case where there is a victim.
On the other hand, the investigating authorities will not give the victim's contact information to the suspect or their family because of concerns that they may try to destroy the evidence or take revenge on the victim for reporting to the police. Even if the investigative authorities did provide the victim's contact information, the victim would probably refuse to meet the suspect or a member of their family directly. Usually the victim is so traumatized that they have no desire to see the perpetrator or their family. And in the unlikely event that the victim did agree to meet, the discussion would become so emotional that negotiations would get nowhere.
Even in such circumstances, an experienced attorney can obtain the victim's contact details and other necessary information from the investigative authorities and initiate negotiations of a settlement at the earliest appropriate opportunity. Even victims who are unwilling to meet the suspect or their family will in many cases agree to meet the suspect's lawyer.
If a settlement is reached with the victim by the lawyer at the early stage of incident, in many instances the charges are stayed and the suspect is quickly released without being prosecuted. Even if the case does go to court, the fact that a settlement has been reached works greatly to the defendant's advantage in obtaining bail and also makes it highly likely that they will receive a suspended sentence, so they will not have to go to jail.
Thus the need to promptly negotiate an out-of-court settlement with the victim is another reason it is very important to appoint a lawyer in a criminal case.
These are just a few of the reasons it is so essential to appoint a lawyer if you are facing criminal charges; what is more, you should do so at the earliest possible stage. The sooner in the investigation a lawyer becomes involved, the more options he will have available to make easier to defend his client in accordance with the particulars of the case.
