Understanding Multiple Charges from a Single Incident
Hi, my name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a Tulsa felony attorney with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been practicing family and criminal law for eight years now, and I want to help you make law easy by talking a little bit about what crimes or how many crimes can be charged just arising out of one event.
The answer is, and this is coming from a question that I actually get asked a lot, which is, you know, it was literally just a bad night, or it was a bad, you know, moment, or it was a bad few minutes, how did this happen? Well, let’s talk about what happened.
How One Incident Can Lead to Multiple Charges
A lot of times, I’ll have clients who will be facing, you know, one or two charges to start with. So I’m just going to make up a hypothetical. One that I get a lot is, let’s say, you’re driving under the influence of alcohol, and you’ve got an Open 40 next to you. So one, you’ve got a DUI, and you’ve got transporting an open container right there.
This is, you know, the start of the incident, the start of, you know, the event, we’ll call it. So let’s say you’re driving a little erratically, you get pulled over. Cops see you, come up to your door, see the Open 40 next to you, your eyes are blurry, your vision, your speech is slurred, so they pull you out of the car.
Let’s say you get a little bit belligerent, you don’t want to get pulled out of the car, you have to be forced out of the car. Well, now you’re resisting, or maybe even obstructing justice, because you’re not doing what the cops say, and you’re getting in the way of them doing their job.
The Consequences of Escalating Actions
Let’s take it even a step further. Let’s say you fail the field sobriety test, and they’re trying to arrest you, and you’re just not going. So then you are full on resisting. So you’ve got obstruction, you’ve got a resisting, you’ve got DUI, you’ve got transporting an open container.
And let’s say you get a little bit violent with it, a little bit out of pocket with how you’re behaving, start kicking at the cops, scratching at them, spitting at them. Well, now you’ve got assault and battery on a police officer, and placing bodily fluids on an officer.
All of these are crimes. Every one of these is its own separate deal, all arising out of the same incident: driving under the influence, with the open container in the car, and being rowdy with the cops.
Avoiding Additional Charges
Now you’re looking at DUI, TOC, obstruction, assault and battery, and placing bodily fluids, five different crimes, just out of one incident, one set of events, one set of circumstances. So be very, very careful.
Just because you’re committing one crime doesn’t mean that you’re only going to be charged with one crime. You can absolutely, and very easily, and without even realizing it, let the situation escalate and find yourself facing additional charges.
So be careful. Keep your head about you. Don’t commit any crimes in the first place. But if you do, don’t make things worse. Just try to cooperate, say as little as possible to law enforcement, and protect yourself.
Start Your Low-Cost Strategy Session Today
If you’re in a situation where you need legal guidance, reach out for support. My name is Carl Birkhead, and I’m a Tulsa criminal defense attorney with Wirth Law Office. I want to help you make law easy. Call me for a low-cost initial strategy session at 918-879-1681.
