Earl Carter has been practicing criminal defense in Riverside County since 1975, giving us a huge advantage.

Our attorneys are highly skilled at helping clients avoid jail by fighting for acquittals, reducing penalties, or arranging jail alternatives such as work release.

We may be able to appear in court for you. In most cases we can show up in your place, keeping you out of court, thereby reducing your stress, and allowing you to maintain your daily schedule.

We are more-than-likely familiar with the District Attorney involved in your case because we have handled more cases in Riverside county in the past decade than any other firm.

Our Local Experience is Unsurpassed. We are in the Riverside County Courts every single day defending our clients. This local experience and familiarity is a key factor in getting great results in court.

We have a live person answering our phones Weekdays from 8am to 5pm. We are here to answer your questions whenever they should arise.

Our fees are very affordable. We arrange fee schedules our clients can afford, including easy payments.

Undergoing criminal prosecution in Riverside can be a frightening experience. If you, or someone you love, are facing criminal prosecution, you need an attorney with experience to fight for you. Earl Carter has been defending clients against criminal charges in Riverside for over 35 years.

Riverside Criminal Defense Attorney

Being charged with a crime in Riverside County is serious business. That is because Riverside County has historically been a very conservative county in which politicians have consistently run on “tough on crime” platforms. The result of this particularly conservative history is a set of policies and practices that result in harsher than usual punishments for those charged with crimes in Riverside. At the Law Office of Earl Carter, we believe that people deserve a second chance. Our team of aggressive Riverside Criminal Defense Attorneys is in the Riverside County Courts on a daily basis fighting to get our clients the break they deserve. Earl Carter has been fighting for his clients in Riverside county since 1975. This amounts to a considerable amount of experience that can be used to benefit you. Let us put our experience to work for you. If you are being charged with a crime in any of the following courts: Riverside, Southwest ( Murrieta), Indio, or Banning, you should call us immediately.

About Earl Carter & Associates

The criminal lawyers at Earl Carter & Associates have been defending criminal cases in Riverside, CA for over 35 years. We have compiled a remarkable team of attorneys unmatched by any other firm. Our attorneys are intelligent, aggressive, and experienced. They know what it takes to win cases in Riverside County. Their experience and knowledge encompasses all criminal defense practice areas including DUI, Domestic Violence, Theft Charges (including petty theft and shoplifting ) , Drug Crimes, welfare fraud, Assault and Battery, Sex Crimes, Robbery, Serious Felonies, Three Strikes Cases, Juvenile Crimes more. There is no substitute for local experience in criminal defense. You either have a locally experienced attorney or you do not. Our Riverside Criminal Defense Attorneys are in these courts daily. They understand how the Riverside system works at every level. They know how the judges think and how they operate their courtrooms. Our attorneys know the district attorneys prosecuting your cases, and the policies that drive their plea bargains. Let us put our experience to work for you.

Simply stated, Earl Carter is the best Riverside Criminal Attorney. We can make that claim, because we are in Riverside every day, we know the other attorneys who practice there and we are extremely confident in our abilities. You simply cannot do better than our experience at our prices.

Stay Out of Jail – Our Experienced Riverside Criminal Lawyer Will Fight For You!

Avoiding Jail is the number one concern of most of our clients. Fortunately, this one of our strengths. In Riverside County, being charged with a crime does not necessarily result in spending time in jail, especially with an experienced Riverside criminal lawyer on your side. In fact, most of our clients never spend another minute in a jail cell after hiring our services. Even on our felony cases, many of our clients are able serve their required “jail” days through some type of alternative such as work release, or house arrest. The truth of the matter is that in Riverside County there are several potential jail alternatives available. We know what the jail alternatives are.We know the circumstances in which they are available. We know how to approach each case strategically so as to minimize the likelihood that our client ever goes to jail. This knowledge stems from our daily, local experience in Riverside County Courts. Put our experience to work for you.

Our Riverside criminal defense attorney may be able to get you acquitted or get your case dismissed. In situations where acquittals or dismissals are unlikely, we know how to plea bargain effectively. In circumstances where a conviction cannot be avoided, our criminal defense lawyers are excellent at reducing criminal charges, minimizing sentences that avoid jail time for our clients.

The key to getting great results (results that do not include jail) in a Riverside Criminal Case is the combination of an experienced attorney, with local familiarity, who is willing to fight. Our Riverside Defense Attorneys fit each of these criteria. Our attorneys will study the evidence in your case, and determining where there may be holes in the case. Most cases have legal defenses that apply. Our attorneys know how to find these defenses, and use them to affect the outcome of your case.

Earl Carter’s Team of Private Investigators

One of the factor’s that sets us apart from most criminal defense firms in Riverside, that we are aware of, is that we employ a team of full-time private investigator who know how to investigate our client’s cases to uncover defenses that may be available. In our Riverside office, our investigators have office immediately next to our attorneys. Our attorneys routinely walk into the investigators office and order up investigations into our cases. If there is evidence available to use in your defense, our team knows how to find it. Our investigators will go out to the scene of an alleged crime and take pictures or interview witnesses as necessary to help us aggressively defend our clients. We are not aware of any other Criminal defense firm in California who has investigative resources like our attorneys do.

In Many Cases our Attorneys Can Go to Court For you.

Going to court is best avoided, if possible. Avoid the stress and let your attorney go on your behalf. Defending against criminal charges in Riverside County often takes several court appearances. One of the advantages of hiring our Riverside criminal attorney to represent you on a misdemeanor case is we can usually go to court for you. This means do not have to miss work or school to go to court. This is one of the clear advantages of hiring a private attorney compared to using a public defender. With a pubic defender, you will be required to attend court. Save time and avoid the stress of court, by hiring us to defend you against criminal prosecution.

Our Riverside Criminal Defense Lawyers Defend Cases of Every Type and Severity

Our criminal attorneys in Riverside are experienced at handling all types of cases, at every level of severity. This includes infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies. There are virtually no criminal charges that we have not fought including the following: DUI, Driving Under the Influence, Domestic Violence or Spousal Battery, miscellaneous drug cases, Possession of a Controlled Substance for personal use or for sales, shoplifting, petty theft, grand theft, burglary, robbery, embezzlement, fraud, welfare fraud, sex crimes, assault, battery, three-strikes cases, violent crimes, and white collar crimes. You name it and we have defended against it. Above all else, our experience is the advantage we have over other law firms.

Reduce or Expunge Criminal Defense Charges – Keep Your Record Clean!

One of the biggest concerns in fighting a criminal case is the impact of the Criminal Record than can result from a conviction. If you are being criminally prosecuted, it is important that you do everything in your power to reduce the impact on your record. A highly skilled Riverside criminal defense lawyer at our firm knows how to get charges, dropped, or reduced when necessary in order to minimize the impact of a criminal record. We are highly effective at getting felonies reduced to misdemeanors and misdemeanors reduced to infraction. If you have already been convicted, we can often go back, after the fact, and have a record expunged or cleaned.

There is No Substitute for a Criminal Defense Attorney with Local Experience

If you are being charged with a crime in Riverside County there are criminal defense attorneys all over the state who will take your money. But, the reality is that every county is different and every court is different. Riverside is certainly no exception. Riverside County criminal Courts have their own political climate and their own set of procedures that are unique to this county. You do not want to hire a criminal defense attorney to represent you in court in Riverside that is an outsider. You will want an attorney who is familiar with the local rules, attitudes, and procedures. You will want a criminal defense attorney, in Riverside, who is familiar with the judges and the District Attorneys, and who has local credibility. Our Riverside Criminal Defense Attorneys practice in the Riverside County Criminal Courts on a daily basis. Our Criminal defense attorney in Riverside has tried many Jury Trials in Riverside Court, this year alone. This translates into local familiarity, local experience, and local credibility, all of which increases the likelihood that you get the very best result possible in your time of need. If you need a Riverside Criminal Defense Attorney, then the Law Office of Earl Carter is the right choice for you.

Earl Carter Criminal Lawyers Riverside Office Information

Our Riverside Criminal Defense Attorney office is located off of Main Street in downtown Riverside near the corner of Market and 14th and is easily identified by the unique rounded green awnings. We are open for business from 8am to 8pm Monday through Friday.

Frequently Asked Questions- Answered by a Riverside Criminal Lawyer

Q: I am afraid I was caught red handed. Is it even worth hiring an attorney, or should I save my money and take my lumps?

A: If you are charged with a crime in California, you should always seek the counsel of an experienced criminal defense attorney. You may have many defenses available to you that are not obvious to you. Do not despair, help is available. There are very few situations in which we cannot help our client improve their situation. Even in situations where our clients are clearly guilty of committing a crime, we routinely get charges dropped or reduced, and punishments reduced. We are very good at securing alternatives to jail for even our most guilty clients including work release, house arrest, electronic monitoring, or community service.

Q: Is it possible to beat a DUI charge?

A:There are many ways to successfully defend against a charge for DUI. A skilled criminal lawyer knows how to attack a DUI charge strategically, so as to maximize the possibility of a successful defense. These cases are not as straightforward as you might think. Many clients come in fearing the worst, only to be pleasantly surprised. You should always consult with an attorney before going to court on a DUI do not assume you should plead guilty. Even where a conviction is imminent, many DUI’s can be negotiated down to reckless driving charges.

Q: Do I even need a private attorney ? Why not just use a public defender

A: While a Public Defender may be available to help those who are very poor financially, that does not mean that a public defender is the best option for you. For example, one clear advantage of hiring a private attorney, especially if you are facing a misdemeanor, is that a private attorney can often go to court on your behalf, thereby keeping you out of court. If you are represented by a public defender, you will have to appear at court at every single court date.

Moreover, many people elect to hire private attorneys in order to get the level of customer service and personalized attention that a private attorney can provide.

Q: Will the court provide me with a public defender?

A:It is true that Public Defenders are provided to those charged with serious crimes who absolutely cannot afford an attorney, but if the court finds that you meet their financial qualifications, you will be denied representation by a public defender and required to hire your own private attorney.

Q: This is my first time being charged with a crime. Does the court take that into consideration?

A:Yes. Part of the analysis the court will undergo when determining how severe punishment for a crime should be, is determining if the defendant has committed crimes in the past. Typically in Riverside, individuals who have little or no prior criminal history will receive lighter punishments than those with extensive criminal backgrounds. An experienced criminal defense attorney knows how to emphasize the importance of the fact that his client has a clean criminal history, while minimizing the impact in the case of an extensive criminal record.

Q: Is it possible to get my charges completely dismissed?

A:The short answer is yes. We regularly have clients whose charges get dismissed prior to a jury trial, but this typically only occurs if the incriminating evidence is particularly weak. In most instances, if you are being charged with a crime, the only way you can expect a positive result is to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney to represent you. A skilled attorney will know how to achieve the best result possible for you through either a plea bargain, or by taking your case to trial.