The first three days after an arrest are when the most evidence is lost and the most avoidable damage is done. Most of it is self-inflicted: a phone call from the jail, a text to the other person involved, a missed deadline on a piece of paper that looked like a receipt. Almost none of it can be undone later.
The State has to prove its case. You do not have to help it, and you have the right not to. Everything below is about keeping that position while the evidence that tests the State’s version of events still exists.
I’m Theodore FitzGerald, a criminal defense lawyer in Stateline. I work from one rule: the government has to follow the law at every step. The first three days are when that rule is easiest to give up by accident, and this page is how not to.
Your rights, in plain terms
You have the right to remain silent. Before custodial questioning, police must tell you that you have the right to remain silent, that anything you say can be used against you, and that you have the right to an attorney. If you say you want a lawyer, questioning must stop until one is present. At your first court appearance, the judge will also tell you that you are “not required to make a statement and that any statement made may be used against” you.
You have the right to a lawyer, and to call one. After booking you have the right to make a reasonable number of completed phone calls, immediately and, except where physically impossible, within 3 hours of arrest. Those calls must include one completed call to a friend or bail agent and one to an attorney.
Invoke both rights clearly. “I am not going to answer questions without a lawyer” is enough. Then stop talking about the facts, to anyone.
If you already talked to the officer, it is not too late. You can invoke your rights at any point. What you already said will be looked at with your lawyer, including whether it was lawfully obtained. Do not add to it.
Do not discuss the facts with anyone except your lawyer
This is the rule people break most often, and it costs the most.
- Not on a jail phone. Assume every call from a jail telephone is recorded and can reach the prosecutor. Use your calls to arrange release and a lawyer.
- Not by text, email, or social media. Messages are evidence. “I’m sorry, I had too much to drink” or “I didn’t mean to push you” can carry more weight at trial than an officer’s report.
- Not with the other person involved. In a domestic-battery or assault case, the court may already have ordered no contact. Before bail is set, an alleged victim may ask for that order, and the court can impose one without being asked. Knowingly violating it is a separate misdemeanor, even if the other person makes the first call. Contact “to apologize” or “to work it out” is how a defensible case becomes an indefensible one.
- Not with police “to clear things up.” If a detective calls after you are released, give your lawyer’s name and number and end the call.
- Not with an insurance company, if there was a collision or property damage, until you have spoken with a lawyer.
Read your release papers before you do anything else
If you were released from the Douglas County jail, you signed a document. It contains your court date and your conditions, and it states that if you fail to appear and are “taken into custody outside of this State,” you waive “all rights relating to extradition proceedings.”
Look for:
- The court and the date. Tahoe Justice Court in Stateline, East Fork Justice Court in Minden, or another court. Put the date in your calendar now.
- Conditions. No contact with a named person, stay away from a place, no alcohol, no firearms, or a requirement to remain in Nevada or a particular county. These are court orders. If you live somewhere else, you can usually go home unless a condition says otherwise. If a condition cannot work for you, the answer is a motion to change it, not a decision to ignore it. See Bail, Custody, and Getting Out of the Douglas County Jail.
If your paperwork has no court date, do not assume the matter is over. Some cases are filed after release. Keep your mailing address current with the court and the DMV so notices reach you.
Do not miss the first court date
A missed date in a Nevada criminal case turns into a warrant and a new charge quickly.
- If you were released, on bail or without it, and you miss a required appearance, that is a separate crime unless you surrender within 30 days. On a misdemeanor case it is a misdemeanor; it becomes a category D felony if you “left this State with the intent to avoid prosecution.” On a felony case it is a category D felony.
- Many traffic citations come with a 30-day grace period before a warrant may issue for a missed appearance. A DUI citation does not.
If you cannot be there in person, a remote appearance has to be requested and approved before the date. Do not assume one will be allowed.
If this is a DUI: the DMV case has already started
A DUI arrest with a test result of 0.08 or more, a detectable prohibited substance, or a refusal also starts a license revocation with the Nevada DMV. That case does not wait for the criminal case.
- If the officer served you with an order of revocation and you asked for a temporary license, it is “effective for only 7 days including the date of issuance.” The day you received it is day one.
- If you were not served at the scene (because you gave blood and the result came later, for example), the DMV mails the order to your last known address, and it “becomes effective 5 days after mailing.”
- The hearing. Nevada sets no fixed number of days to request the DMV hearing. You may request it in writing “at any time while” you are not eligible to drive, but you get only one, and a timely request brings an additional temporary license while the review is pending. Requesting it right away and letting part of the revocation run first each have costs and benefits, and the seven-day license runs out fast. See Nevada DMV License Revocation After a DUI Arrest.
If you hold a California license, what California does with a Nevada DUI is a separate question of California law. See How a Nevada DUI Follows You Home to California.
Preserve the evidence before it disappears
The State already has its evidence: reports, video, test results. Much of the evidence that tests the State’s version belongs to private businesses or exists only in your memory and on your phone, and some of it is gone within days.
Video. Casinos, hotels, bars, restaurants, gas stations, parking garages, and ski-resort lots commonly record, and private systems are often set to record over old footage. Note every place a camera might have captured you, the route you drove, the stop, or the incident.
Receipts. Bar tabs, restaurant receipts, card statements, and app orders show what was consumed and when. In a DUI case, timing matters as much as quantity.
Your phone. Photos and videos, texts and call logs that fix times, ride-share and map history, location history. Do not delete anything. Back it up.
People. Write down the names and contact information of everyone who was with you or saw what happened: friends, bartenders, hotel staff, other drivers, bystanders. Witnesses who were visiting from elsewhere are hard to find later.
Physical evidence. Photograph injuries, or the absence of injuries, now. Photograph the scene, the road, the lighting, and the vehicle if it matters. Keep the clothing and shoes you were wearing.
Medical information. Note medications, medical conditions, injuries, fatigue, and anything else that could explain your driving, balance, speech, or eyes. In a DUI case, these affect how the field sobriety tests and the officer’s observations should be read.
Write your own timeline, for your lawyer only
Within the first day, write down everything you remember in order: where you were, what you ate and drank and when, when you started driving, where you were stopped, what the officer said and asked, what tests you were asked to do, what you were told about a breath or blood test, when you were arrested, and when you were released. Note times wherever you can.
Mark it “Prepared for my attorney” and do not share it with anyone else. The details people forget first are often the ones that matter: whether you were told you could refuse a field test, how long you waited, and what the officer said was the reason for the stop.
Gather the paperwork in one place
- the citation or charging paperwork;
- the release document and any conditions;
- the bail receipt, or the bail agent’s contract and receipt;
- the jail property receipt;
- any DMV order of revocation and temporary license;
- any tow or impound paperwork;
- any notice or order from the court.
Photograph everything.
If your car was towed or impounded, the tow paperwork says where it is and how to get it back. Storage charges usually add up daily. If the vehicle may be evidence, as in a collision case, talk to a lawyer before repairing it or letting it be destroyed.
What my office does in the first 72 hours
The first calls are about dates: the court date, the DMV deadline, and any condition of release that has to change. If you are still in custody, the office presses for the release hearing the law requires within 48 hours.
Preservation letters go out to any casino, hotel, bar, or garage whose cameras may have recorded you, before the footage is written over. On a DUI, the DMV hearing decision is made with you in the first week, while the temporary license is still good. If a detective calls, the call comes to my office. And if you live outside Douglas County, the office requests Zoom appearances where the court allows them and tells you which dates, if any, need you in the courtroom.
What you do in these three days, and what you don’t, is what your lawyer will be working with for the rest of the case.
These three days matter most. Hire me now, and I’ll get to work while the evidence still exists. Call FitzGerald Law.