Criminal Defense in Thailand
The lawyers and case managers at Thailand Bail have a sole focus on bail and criminal defense. Our lawyers have decades of experience preparing proper defense strategies for clients who face charges of drug possession, drug possession with intent to sell, drug use, drug import / export, murder, attempted murder, theft, theft at night, fraud, fraud of the general public, assault, serious assault, money laundering, as well as all kinds of offenses that are related to both the criminal and immigration laws of Thailand. Below we will describe our unique, proactive approach to criminal defense that provides real results for our clients (please see our success stories for real world examples of our work) and not just wasted money on lawyers who take a passive, wait-and-see approach. If you are looking for a strategy that will actually work to get your family or friend out of the criminal case they are in, please see below.
Police Investigation Period
In order to understand that the Thailand Bail defense strategy is the best approach, it is important to understand the criminal case process in Thailand. We have written about this before, but it is worth repeating. When an accused person is first arrested in Thailand, the Royal Thai Police usually have 48 hours to perform an initial investigation and send the accused person to the relevant Thai court. Under unique situations, the Thai police can request additional time beyond the 48 hours, but in 99% of criminal cases throughout Thailand, the Thai police will send the accused person to the court within 48 hours. At this first court appearance, the accused person may be allowed to enter a plea, or may just be remanded to prison, unless bail is applied for. Please see our page on bail for more details about the bail process in Thailand.
Technically, the Thai police will ask for a period of time to perform additional investigation. For a small criminal case in Thailand, this could be 7 days. For most criminal cases we get contacted about, this will be a 12-day period, or a fak-krang in Thai. For most cases we get asked to provide legal support for, the police will request up to 4 12-day periods for smaller cases and 7 12-day periods for larger cases. For example, if you have a class 5 drug possession charge, it is likely the Thai police will investigate for 48 days. In another example, where an accused person is initially charged with possession with intent to sell of a class 1 drug (i.e. more than 0.375 grams of MDMA or crystal methamphetamine), the police will typically use 60-72 days before sending the investigation file to the public prosecutor who will bring the indictment to the court.
Thailand Bail’s Strategy During the Police Investigation Period
It is very important to have our lawyers and case managers working on the case during this time. It is the only time in the entire case where certain details can be added to the case file for consideration by the public prosecutor. Why is this important? It is the prosecutor who decides what formal charges to being against the defendant, and much of this comes from suggestions from the police. Therefore, it is extremely important to work closely with the police and prosecutor to show them the other side of the case. Thailand Bail’s lawyers and can managers prepare “positive” evidence for our clients, in order to show that he or she is not guilty of the charges brought against them.
Thailand Bail’s lawyers and case managers will prepare statements to be given to the police, amend existing statements, discuss with witnesses identified by the police, come up with our own witnesses who will provide beneficial testimony for your case, prepare documents to support your case, such as bank statements, hospital records, immigration records, CCTV records, and other evidence to prove your innocence. In Thailand, you have to prove your innocence – it is not automatically assumed.
In cases where the evidence is extremely clear, Thailand Bail’s involvement early on can make the difference between prison time (custodial) and a suspended sentence (non-custodial). For charges such as theft, fraud, assault, and many drug cases, ending the case early with a suspended sentence as a result (no prison time) can be the best approach.
Thailand Bail’s lawyers and case managers act in your best interest, unlike many lawyers in Thailand who will suggest you to fight the case until the trial, when they suggest you plead guilty. Other lawyers in Thailand will do this in order to extract as much money from you as possible, going through several months of court hearings, when the case could have been ended successfully months prior. Thailand Bail is different than other lawyers in Thailand in that we do not advise things that will not be a benefit for our clients.
Indictment Day, Pre-Trial, Trial, and Judgment in the Thai Court
The court appearance where the defendant appears in court to receive the formal charges from the Thai public prosecutor, and to enter a plea to the judge, is referred to as indictment day. If the case is a serious one that cannot be ended by indictment day then there will be pre-trial hearings following this, followed by trial and judgment, if the case cannot be settled during one of the pre-trial hearings. For fraud and defamation cases, there may be a favorable outcome to be had on indictment day or one of the pre-trial hearings. For major criminal cases in Thailand, we may have to fight the charges through trial in order to get a positive result on judgment day. Thailand Bail has had great success with this, including winning a 3,900kg drug import-export and possession with intent to sell case. We were able to prove our client’s innocence, but our work started early on, only weeks after he was arrested. We were able to add positive evidence during the police investigation period and successfully examine and cross-examine the witnesses during trial, resulting in a yok-fong (complete dismissal) of all charges.
Would You Like to Discuss Your Case?
Thailand Bail invests a lot of time just to discuss the cases of potential clients, so if you have a criminal case in Thailand, contact Thailand Bail in order to discuss the strategy that we will take for your case. We accept cases throughout Thailand, including Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, Pattaya, Chonburi, Rayong, Samut Prakarn, Hua Hin, Phuket, Udon Thani, Chiang Mai, Krabi, Phu Khiao, Buriram, and every other court in Thailand.
