Criminal Defense Intake and First Appearance Checklist: A Practical Checklist

Summary. This checklist covers the first thirty days of a criminal defense matter, where leverage is concentrated and evidence is perishable: intake and conflict screening, the immigration and licensing questions that must be answered before any plea discussion, the release package that determines whether the client waits at home or in custody, the preservation letters that must go out before video overwrites, the discovery and Brady demands, the criminal history audit, suppression issue spotting from the reports, and the speedy trial calculation.

What this checklist is for. Opening and protecting a criminal defense matter. For the process, see The Criminal Case From Arrest to Appeal. For the client-facing version, see Facing Criminal Charges.

Phase 1 — Intake, hour one

Conflict check against the client, all codefendants, all complaining witnesses, and all known government witnesses.
Instruct the client immediately: no statements to anyone; no discussion of the case on jail phones, jail email, or video visits; no contact with the complaining witness directly or through anyone else; no social media.
Obtain the charging document and every court date already set.
Identify the custody status, the location, and the next appearance.
Identify the maximum exposure, any mandatory minimum, and any charged enhancement.
Screen immigration status. Citizen, lawful permanent resident, visa holder, undocumented, DACA, asylee, or pending application? This must be answered before any plea discussion — Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010).
Screen professional licenses, security clearances, commercial driver's licenses, and employment in regulated fields.
Screen for military status, probation or parole status, and pending cases in other jurisdictions.
Screen for medical and mental health needs requiring attention in custody.
Execute a written fee agreement or confirm the appointment.

Phase 2 — The release package, before the bail hearing

Verified residence address and a letter from the person the client will live with.
Employment verification confirming the job is held.
Community ties: duration of residence, family, children, school enrollment.
A proposed third-party custodian, present in court.
Treatment or program enrollment, with an intake appointment already scheduled.
Medical documentation where care is unavailable in custody.
Prior appearance history on any earlier case.
A specific proposal for conditions — reporting, curfew, monitoring, no-contact, travel restriction — framed as the least restrictive conditions that reasonably assure appearance and safety. 18 U.S.C. § 3142.
Confirm the probable cause determination occurred within forty-eight hours of a warrantless arrest — County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44 (1991).

Why this matters. Detained defendants plead more often, faster, and worse, and lose employment, housing, and custody while awaiting trial. A ten-minute hearing decides all of that.

Phase 3 — Preservation, within days

Send preservation letters for:
- Body-worn and dash camera footage from every responding officer
- Booking and holding-cell video
- Dispatch recordings, CAD logs, and radio traffic
- Business, residential, doorbell, and transit surveillance near the scene
- 911 call recordings
- Jail call recordings (know what the client already said)
- Cell site and device data
- The physical evidence and any vehicle
Canvass the scene and photograph it, including sight lines and lighting at the same time of day.
Identify and interview witnesses before memories consolidate.
Preserve the client's own evidence: clothing, injuries (photograph immediately and again as bruising develops), receipts, messages, and location data.

Third-party video is the most perishable and most valuable evidence in criminal practice. Most systems overwrite in seven to thirty days.

Phase 4 — Discovery

Serve the Rule 16 or state discovery request — Fed. R. Crim. P. 16 — covering the defendant's statements, criminal record, documents and objects, examination and test reports, and expert summaries.
Serve a specific Brady and Giglio demand — Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963); Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972) — enumerating:
- Inconsistent witness statements
- Benefits, promises, and consideration given to any witness
- Witness criminal histories and pending charges
- Officer disciplinary and credibility findings, where discoverable
- Failed or inconclusive forensic testing
- Identification procedures and any non-identification
- Any exculpatory statement by a codefendant
Request complete forensic files, not summary reports — bench notes, calibration records, maintenance logs, proficiency testing, and chain of custody.
Note the reciprocal discovery obligations triggered by the request.
Note that witness statements may not be due until after direct testimony under Jencks-type rules, and calendar accordingly.

Phase 5 — Criminal history audit

Obtain the state and FBI records, not just the prosecutor's summary.
Verify every entry belongs to the client — name matches attach other people's cases routinely.
Verify dispositions: dismissed charges reported as convictions, deferred dispositions reported as convictions, and misdemeanors reported as felonies are all common.
Verify sentences and custody credits.
Correct errors before they drive bail, plea offers, and guideline calculations.

Phase 6 — Suppression issue spotting

Read the reports and the video against this list:

Was the stop supported by reasonable suspicion?
Was the stop prolonged beyond the time required to complete its mission?
Was there probable cause for the arrest?
Was there a warrant? Is the affidavit sufficient, and is the scope proper?
Which warrant exception does the government rely on, and does it fit?
Was consent given, by whom, with what authority, and was it voluntary?
Was the client in custody when questioned, and were warnings given? Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
Was any invocation of silence or counsel honored?
Was the statement voluntary under the totality of the circumstances?
Was any identification procedure suggestive?
Is there a Franks issue — a false or reckless statement in the warrant affidavit?
Does the video contradict the report? Note every discrepancy with a timestamp.

Phase 7 — Deadlines

Speedy Trial Act calculation — 18 U.S.C. § 3161 — with every excludable period tracked, or the state analogue.
Constitutional speedy trial assertion, if warranted — Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972).
Pretrial motion filing deadline in the scheduling order.
Notice deadlines for alibi, insanity, and expert defenses.
Administrative license hearing deadline in any DUI matter — frequently seven to fifteen days and entirely separate from the criminal case.
Forfeiture claim deadlines, which are short and routinely missed.
Probation or parole violation hearing date, if the client is under supervision.

Phase 8 — Plea evaluation

Before advising on any offer, complete all of the following in writing:

Discovery reviewed and defense investigation complete.
Suppression motions decided, or their prospects assessed.
Maximum exposure at trial, including enhancements and mandatory minimums.
Realistic sentence under the offer, including guideline calculation.
Immigration analysis of the specific statute and subsection offered, and identification of any alternative disposition that avoids the consequence.
Licensing and employment analysis.
Firearms prohibition analysis, including Rehaif knowledge issues on any firearm count.
Sex offender registration analysis, if applicable.
Expungement or sealing eligibility for each available disposition.
Diversion, deferred adjudication, and specialty court availability — asked about expressly.
Whether the agreement is a recommendation or a binding sentence — Fed. R. Crim. P. 11.
Scope of any appellate waiver.
Every formal offer communicated to the client — Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134 (2012) — and documented in the file.

Phase 9 — Sentencing mitigation

Review the presentence report and file objections on schedule — Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.
Verify the criminal history computation and every enhancement.
Assemble the mitigation package:
- Support letters describing observed conduct, not adjectives
- Employment records and a letter confirming post-release employment
- Treatment enrollment, attendance, and progress
- Medical, mental health, and trauma history
- Restitution paid or begun before sentencing
- A concrete release plan with addresses and names
- A defendant's statement that accepts responsibility without minimizing
Brief the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, or the state equivalent, with the "sufficient but not greater than necessary" framing.
Request an ability-to-pay determination, a payment plan, a fee waiver, or community service conversion at the hearing.
Request specific conditions of supervision the client can actually satisfy.
Request judicial recommendations on placement and programming.

Phase 10 — Post-disposition

Calendar the appeal deadline — short, and not extended by indecision.
Preserve the transcript, particularly the plea colloquy.
Calendar expungement or sealing eligibility.
Advise on restoration of rights — voting, firearms, jury service.
Provide the client a complete file copy: charging document, plea agreement, judgment, colloquy transcript, and proof of completion and payment.
Advise on immigration follow-up if applicable.
Identify collateral matters: professional licensing, family court, employment, and any civil claim including under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.