Everett Criminal Defense Lawyer

Snohomish County's court system is the biggest in my footprint — and the easiest to get lost in.

Where your case lands determines the judges, the prosecutors, the calendar, and the realistic outcomes:

• Snohomish County Superior Court — all felonies, at the county campus in downtown Everett. High volume, professional prosecution office, and a court that rewards defense lawyers who arrive prepared.
• Snohomish County District Court — county-filed misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, spread across divisions around the county; which division hears your case generally depends on where the incident happened, so a Lynnwood stop and an Everett stop can end up in different courtrooms with different rhythms.
• Everett Municipal Court — misdemeanors filed by the City of Everett, prosecuted by the city.

Three systems, distinct cultures. I appear across all of them, and part of what you're hiring is the map: knowing which room your case is headed to and what actually works there.

What I defend in Snohomish County.

Everything on this site, in Everett and countywide: DUI — and on the I-5 corridor through Everett and Lynnwood, emphasis patrols make these arrests a nightly event; remember the 7-day license deadline. Assault charges at every degree. Domestic violence allegations and the no-contact orders that come with them. Sex offense allegations, handled with total discretion — often pre-charge. Serious felonies in a Superior Court that sees every kind. And record clearing for old Snohomish County convictions still shadowing you.

When a charge threatens a career — or a clearance.

Everett works differently than most cities its size: a large share of its people carry jobs where a criminal case is a career event, not just a legal one. Aerospace and skilled trades where employers run background checks and clearances matter. Sailors and personnel connected to the naval station. CDL holders who lose their livelihood with their license. Two things to understand if that's you:

• The charge can bite before any conviction. Clearance reviews, command notification, employer policies — some consequences key off the arrest itself. That urgency changes defense strategy: what we push to resolve quickly, what we fight to keep off the record entirely, and what we never concede.
• Service members may face two tracks. A civilian charge can carry military consequences that run on their own rules. I defend the civilian case with those stakes fully in view — and when command-side issues need military counsel, I coordinate rather than pretend one lawyer covers both worlds.

When we talk, tell me what your career touches. It changes how I build the case.

Local familiarity is not a slogan. It's leverage.

Twenty-five years in Northwest Washington courts — on both sides of the aisle — means I don't spend the first month of your case learning the terrain. I know what a persuasive suppression motion looks like to this bench, how this county's charging deputies think, and which resolutions are realistic in which courtroom. Out-of-area counsel can read the statutes; they can't read the room.