Felony Defense
Felony representation from the arraignment and preliminary examination in the district court through trial and sentencing in the Wayne County Circuit Court.
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The practice
LegalSolv’s felony defense attorneys in Dearborn, Michigan represent clients charged with felonies in Wayne County from the first district court appearance through trial and sentencing in the Wayne County Circuit Court, in English and Arabic. The firm has tried cases ranging from first-time charges to high-class felonies in Wayne County and the surrounding districts.
Michigan groups felonies into classes A through H, from offenses that carry life to offenses that carry two years. Where a charge sits, what enhancements the prosecutor has added, and what the sentencing guidelines score for this client decide the exposure, and all three can change during the case.
The first three weeks
A felony case in Michigan moves on a statutory clock, and the early dates are where the case is shaped.
- Arraignment in the district court. For a Dearborn charge, the 19th District Court. Bond and bond conditions are set here, and the argument for a reasonable bond has to be ready before the hearing.
- Probable cause conference. Set within roughly a week or two of the arraignment. The prosecutor and defense discuss the case, and plea offers often appear here for the first time.
- Preliminary examination. Set shortly after the conference unless waived. The prosecutor must show probable cause with live witnesses, which gives the defense its first sworn cross-examination. Charges get reduced, dismissed, or locked in at this hearing.
- Bind over. If probable cause is found, the case moves to the Wayne County Circuit Court’s Criminal Division at the Criminal Justice Center on Russell Street in Detroit for a second arraignment on the information.
Clients who hire counsel after the preliminary examination has been waived have given up the most useful hearing in the case without knowing it.
Discovery, motions, and the sentencing guidelines
In the Circuit Court the case turns on the file: police reports, body camera and dashcam footage, lab results, phone extractions, and witness statements, all of which the prosecutor must produce under Michigan’s discovery rule. Motions follow from the file. A stop without a lawful basis, a search that exceeded its warrant, a statement taken in violation of Miranda, or an identification procedure that was suggestive can remove the evidence the case depends on.
At the same time we score the sentencing guidelines ourselves. Michigan’s grid combines offense severity with prior record to produce a recommended minimum range, advisory since 2015 but still the starting point for every judge. Habitual offender notices, which raise the maximum based on prior felonies, and mandatory consecutive sentences such as the two-year felony firearm term, sit on top of that. A client cannot evaluate a plea offer without knowing what the alternative at sentencing actually is, so the scoring happens at the start.
Plea or trial
Most Wayne County felonies resolve by plea, and a good plea is a negotiated one: a reduced charge, a dismissed enhancement, a sentence agreement, or a Cobbs evaluation from the judge that puts a number on the table before the client commits. When the evidence does not support the charge, or the offer does not reflect the weakness of the case, it is tried. The firm handles preliminary examinations and trials regularly, and the prosecutor’s office knows which firms try cases, which affects the offers those firms receive.
Collateral consequences
A felony conviction reaches beyond the sentence: firearm rights, professional licenses, immigration status for non-citizens, housing, and employment. Some of those consequences can be avoided with a plea to a different offense, some can be addressed later through expungement under Michigan’s Clean Slate law, and some cannot be undone. They are part of every plea discussion. For the charges we see most, see our pages on drug possession, assault, domestic violence, and felony OWI, and our criminal defense attorneys in Dearborn for everything else.
Where Wayne County felonies are heard
Every Wayne County felony starts in a district court and ends in the Wayne County Circuit Court. Dearborn cases start at the 19th District Court, Detroit cases at the 36th District Court, Dearborn Heights cases at the 20th, and Downriver and western Wayne cases at their own district courts. Our office is minutes from the 19th District Court, and we appear at the Criminal Justice Center in Detroit throughout the week.
How we handle it
The same attorney handles the case from the arraignment through sentencing. The first meeting covers the charge and its real exposure with the guidelines scored, the dates already set, whether to hold or waive the preliminary examination, and what evidence we need to obtain first. Bring the complaint, the bond order, and every notice the court has sent.
This is a focused part of our criminal defense practice. Call (313) 425-5555 to talk through your situation.
Felony Defense FAQ
It starts in the district court for the city where the charge arose, the 19th District Court for Dearborn. The arraignment sets bond. A probable cause conference follows within about a week or two, and a preliminary examination within a week or so after that unless it is waived. If the judge finds probable cause, the case binds over to the Wayne County Circuit Court's Criminal Division at the Criminal Justice Center in Detroit, where there is a second arraignment, discovery, motions, pretrial conferences, and either a plea or a trial. The whole track is set by statute and court rule, and the early dates are short.
Sometimes, and only for a reason. The preliminary exam is the prosecutor's obligation to show probable cause with live witnesses, and it is the defense's first chance to cross-examine them under oath and lock in their testimony. Waiving it is sometimes part of a negotiated resolution, and sometimes the right call when the exam would only educate the prosecutor. Waiving it because it is inconvenient gives up the most useful hearing in the case.
Michigan scores every felony on a grid that combines the offense's severity with the defendant's prior record, producing a recommended minimum sentence range. Since 2015 the guidelines are advisory rather than mandatory, but judges still start from them and must explain a departure. The scoring happens before sentencing, it is often contested, and a few points can move a client from a probation-eligible range to a prison range. We score the guidelines ourselves at the start of the case, not at the end.
A Michigan procedure, named for the case that created it, where the judge gives a preliminary indication of the sentence they would impose on a guilty plea. If the judge later decides to exceed that indication, the defendant can withdraw the plea. It lets a client make a plea decision with real information about the sentence instead of a guess. Whether to ask for one, and when, is a strategic choice we make case by case.
Michigan lets the prosecutor file a notice that raises the maximum sentence based on prior felony convictions: one and a half times the maximum for a second felony, double for a third, and up to life for a fourth, with a 25-year mandatory minimum for certain serious fourth offenses. The notice has to be filed within a set time after the arraignment, the prior convictions have to be valid, and it is often a bargaining chip. It is one of the first things we examine on any client with a record.
A separate charge for possessing a firearm while committing or attempting a felony, under MCL 750.227b. It carries a mandatory two years in prison on a first offense, served consecutively to and before the sentence for the underlying felony, with five and ten years for later offenses. It is charged alongside drug, assault, and robbery cases constantly in Wayne County, and because the sentence is mandatory, the fight is over whether the elements are met and whether the charge survives.
Criminal Defense Across Metro Detroit
We represent criminal defense clients throughout Wayne County from our Dearborn office.
Visit Our Dearborn Office
We represent felony defense clients throughout Wayne County and Metro Detroit from our Dearborn office.
- Address 22226 Garrison St
Dearborn, MI 48124 - Phone (313) 425-5555
- Hours Mon - Fri: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
- Languages English & Arabic
Facing a felony? The preliminary exam is the first real fight.
Most of the decisions that shape a felony case happen in the first three weeks. Get counsel in before the probable cause conference.