We all make mistakes, but if your mistakes lead to handcuffs, you may find that you’re a bit embarrassed or ashamed by your actions. It’s natural to want to keep your arrest a secret, but is that something you can reasonably do? In today’s blog, we explain more about how you’ll want to handle the fallout from your arrest.
Keeping My Arrest A Secret
For some people, it will be a little easier to keep their arrest under wraps compared to others. If you’re young and single and the only person who was impacted by your arrest was yourself, it may not be all that hard to keep others from finding out about your arrest. On the flip side, if you have a spouse or partner, it’s probably a good idea to fill them in on the basics of your arrest and court case. Trust us when we saying lying to a loved one about an arrest never ends well. We’ve seen it more than a few times over the years.
The crime itself will also play a role in how easy it will be to keep news of your arrest from spreading like wildfire. If you’re the only one involved in the incident, others may not easily find out about your arrest, but if you assault someone or others were arrested with you, odds are news of the incident will spread.
Sometimes your DWI arrest ends up in the newspaper, but oftentimes there are more newsworthy items than a run-of-the-mill DWI. You may still end up with a digital record that can be found by others when searching your Minnesota criminal history, but the more boring your arrest is, the less likely it is to make waves online or in print. This is just another reason to avoid escalating a situation and causing more trouble for yourself.
At the end of the day, while you have some say in how news of your arrest spreads, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to keep it a secret. While you may not want to go shouting it from the rooftops, our advice is to provide the basic details of your case to your spouse or loved ones that rely on you. They are going to have your back, even if they may be a little mad or disappointed when they first hear about the arrest. You’ll want allies in your corner, so trusting the news to a select few can help take a bit of the burden off of your shoulders.
It’s also helpful to come in with the mindset that you’re likely not going to be able to keep your arrest a secret from every single person, because this will help you make smart decisions going forward. Some people think that if they try to keep the news quiet and then just plead guilty as quickly as possible, they’ll be able to stop news from spreading. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to keep news of your arrest a secret, but quickly pleading guilty without consulting with a lawyer to learn about your options guarantees that you’ll get a poor outcome from your case.
Even if the lawyer can’t get the charges dropped, they may be able to help with sentencing, and keeping you out of jail or helping you retain a driver’s license can go a long way in making life a little easier following the conclusion of your case (and it may make it easier to stop news of your arrest from spreading!). So while you may not want the whole world to know about about your arrest, if you accept the fact that news might get out and you confide in a close circle that you can trust, including a lawyer, we’re confident that you’ll be able to navigate life after an arrest just fine.
For more information, or for legal help in the event you’ve been arrested, reach out to Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
