Frequently Asked Questions

TYPES OF QUESTIONS THAT THE OFFICE OF
TRIAL ATTORNEY GABA
RECEIVES AND ANSWERS EVERY DAY

QUESTION: My girlfriend is quite young, just in her early teens. Her family doesn’t like me because I am a lot older than she is. They are accusing me of engaging is sexual activities with an under-aged girl. That is not completely true. They have been threatening that they are going to the police to complain about our relationship. Is it too early to get the help of Trial Attorney Gaba?
ANSWER: NO. You can present Trial Attorney Gaba with all the facts. She can discuss with you what options you have. She can discuss with you activities and actions the law says are prohibited. She can give you information in how to deal with the police if they call you to interview you at the police station.

QUESTION: I received a telephone call from the police to say that they want me to show up and give them my side of the story. They didn’t say what I am accused of. I made an appointment but didn’t show up. I made up an excuse. Now they have called again and are forcefully requesting that I show up. What do I do?
ANSWER: Be polite and say that you are consulting an attorney. You will show up if your attorney advises you to do that. Remember, your right to remain silent and make no statement at all, is YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. Your attorney can act as a messenger between you and the police to figure out what the police are investigating. REMEMBER MAKE NO STATEMENT TO ANYONE.

QUESTION: My buddies and I were driving across the state. I was the driver. We stopped at a highway restaurant and they got out and ate. I waited in the car since I was not hungry. When they left the diner they never talked about what they ate but had a lot of extra cash on them. I think they are being investigated for armed robbery or maybe just simple robbery. I only sat in the car and waited for them. I never left the car. No one has been arrested yet. Will Trial Attorney Gaba talk to me if no one has been charged so far?
ANSWER: Yes. It is better to establish an attorney client relationship a month too early than one day to late. Trial Attorney Gaba does not charge for consultation. She will probably give you a full list of things to do and not to do while the investigation goes on.

QUESTION: I am currently sitting in jail. I was never told what the charges are against me. No one has given me any paperwork! Does Trial Attorney Gaba meet with people who are currently in jail to start the process of establishing an attorney client relationship.
ANSWER: Yes. Trial Attorney Gaba receives telephone calls from brothers, girlfriends, parents and best friends telling of a person in jail who needs immediate assistance. Because she is an attorney, she doesn’t have to wait for standard visiting hours. She can see jailed people in the evening, on weekends and even on holidays.

QUESTION: I see that Attorney Gaba has her office in the Columbus, Ohio area. Does she ever take cases outside of the Columbus, Ohio area,
ANSWER: YES. In fact make that absolutely YES. Attorney Gaba takes cases outside of Franklin County (Central Ohio Area) ALL THE TIME. In the years that she has been practicing she has taken cases in about 25 different counties all throughout the State of Ohio. She expects that by the time she retires, she will have had trials in all 88 counties of Ohio.

QUESTION: If I hire Attorney Gaba, how will I know how much I owe her?
ANSWER: Trial Attorney Gaba ALWAYS has an Attorney-Client Fee Agreement Contract. She herself signs the contract. Her Client signs the contract. The contract clearly tells how much is being charged for her professional services.

QUESTION: In the last couple of days I was indicted on a bunch of felonies. I myself have no money. My uncle and step-dad can come up with Attorney Gaba’s fees. Will she take my case if someone other than myself will pay the fees she asks.
ANSWER: YES, Attorney Gaba will accept a case where a person other than the accused is paying. That paying person will have to sign an Attorney-client Fee Agreement contract along with the person being defended.

QUESTION: If I can only come up with half of the fee mentioned in the Attorney-Client Fee Agreement Contract, does this mean I can’t hire Attorney Gaba immediately. Do I have to have 100% of her fee from the very first day?
ANSWER: Not only does Attorney Gaba discuss her fee ahead of time, she will also discuss the timing of the payments. If there are to be a total of two or three payment to be made, that will be listed in the Fee Agreement. As long as you pay according to the terms of the Fee Agreement, she will get started working on your case as of the date of the signing.

QUESTION: I work for a company that has only Federal Government contracts. Lately a lot of money has disappeared from various checking accounts. Federal auditors show up to the company every day. Does Attorney Gaba take cases where the accused is to be tried in a Federal District Court?
ANSWER: YES. Trial Attorney Gaba is licensed to practice in U.S. District Court in Central Ohio. In fact, her federal license permits her (after filling out some administrative forms) to appear in any U.S. Federal District anywhere in the United States.

QUESTION: I work in the cash receipts department of a large company. The incoming checks go to a different department. I am only one of five people who handle the cash. Lately a LOT of cash is missing I believe that one of my co-workers is shipping money to her family in Central America. She has also been handing out cash bonuses to other people who work in this department even though we do not receive “official paperwork” for the extra money we are getting. I have receivedsome of this unexpected cash bonus money although I never asked for it. Who should I tell about all this? Or, should I say nothing? No one has been arrested.
ANSWER: See an attorney immediately. Only a company pay-master can pay employees. All compensation given to employees must be recorded and reported to the IRS in one of many forms that employers are required to file. It is critical that you review with an attorney exactly what has taken place and see if state or federal laws have been broken, whether by inadvertence and unknowingly. Planning for charges of embezzlement, complicity or conspiracy is important when looking to put together a defense.

QUESTION: I expect to be charged with a felony because of my physical (sexual) relationship with an underage girl. Does Trial Attorney Gaba ever make appointments to see a new client after standard business hours (5:00 in the afternoon).
ANSWER: YES. There are days that Trial Attorney Gaba is in trial all day, from 8:45 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. In order not to fall behind in her work, she will accept appointments to see people in the early evening. Attorney Gaba, where it is necessary, will make appointments to see new clients on a Sunday afternoon. If that is the case she will probably be wearing jeans and a casual sweater. If it is important to you (a potential new client) to see Attorney Gaba as soon as possible, she will make all reasonable attempts to adjust her schedule to meet with you.

QUESTION: I am currently being defended by a court appointed public defender. Am I allowed to switch defense attorneys and hire trial Attorney Gaba?
ANSWER: YES, you are permitted to do this but in a timely fashion. DON'T WAIT for the last minute. Remember that court appointed attorneys are paid by the county commissioners. A privately retained counsel, such as trial Attorney Gaba must be paid privately, by you or your family.

QUESTION: The attorney I have defending me right now was hired by my step-dad. The attorney is a very nice and polite guy. I have figured out that he specializes in tax and estate planning. He does trial work, but not that much. Can I change defense attorneys?
ANSWER: YES. However every county bar association has special rules regarding changing your defense attorney. These rules must be followed.  Also judges have their own local rules of court that must be followed when changing attorneys. The old attorney must be paid for the work that he has actually performed. The change of attorneys must be done in a timely fashion so that the judge does not see the change process as that of merely delaying the trial. The new attorney must be paid her new and separate fee.

QUESTION: My case was already tried once. The jury never reached a verdict and the case was declared to be a mistrial, Am I forced to keep the old attorney. Can I have a new attorney for the re-trial?
ANSWER: Yes, you can have a new attorney for the re-trial.

QUESTION: My case is about “sexual involvement with a young teenage girl” where the alleged incidents took place in Ohio and another state. The trial is to take place in the other state and not Ohio. Has Trial Attorney Gaba ever practiced in another State? Can she take an out of state case?
ANSWER: Perhaps, but more details are needed. Trial Attorney Gaba has practiced in another state. Yes, if the matter of professional fees are taken care of, she will accept a trial case in another state. The process of getting admitted to practice law in another state (which she has done in the past) involves a lot of administrative paperwork. She has been admitted to practice in a couple of other states in the past.

QUESTION: I have been served an indictment paper claiming I committed 18 different felonies counts. Some of the counts involve violent behavior while others talk about my conduct with my girl friend and her (female) cousin. In truth, I am not guilty on 15 counts, but I am kind of guilty on about 3 counts. Will Attorney Gaba defend me on all 18 counts?
ANSWER: Absolutely, YES. The law states that ALL persons in the United States are entitled to a competent and meaningful defense. It does not make a difference if you are guilty on 1 or 5 or all 18 counts of the indictment. If you choose to hire Attorney Gaba she will defend you.

QUESTION: My case was already tried once. I was found not guilty on all charges except one. Can Attorney Gaba appeal the conviction of that one charge.
ANSWER: YES, but remember that all appeals require a transcript. That is a separate and independent cost associated with the appeal process. The professional fee that you paid to your trial attorney does not cover the fee for your appeals attorney. Attorney Gaba would have to be paid for her appeal work.

QUESTION: My federal criminal case was dismissed for reasons that I don't really understand. Now the federal prosecutor is appealing the decision of the trial court. Can Attorney Gaba represent me in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
ANSWER: YES, Attorney Gaba can represent you in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

QUESTION: I was picked up by the police and thrown in jail with no paper work involved!. This was a while back. Every day one of the guards says I will be getting “papers’. The papers have never come. Other guys in jail say I should file a “habeas”. I don’t know what that is. I truly believe that I’m going to sit in here and rot in here for the rest of my life. Can something be done? What is a habeas? Will that type of paper get me out of here?
ANSWER: YES. A Writ of Habeas Corpus is a legal paper that asks “Why is this person deprived of his freedom” i.e. “Why is he being held” You can bring your circumstance to the courts attention and force a judge to rule whether you are being held illegally. YES, Attorney Gaba has filed this type of Writ in the past. It was filed in the Ohio Supreme Court

QUESTION: I work in a truck garage. There is no accounting system in existence. It’s just money in the door and money out the door. In the past incoming money always was a lot larger than the outgoing money. In the last month, the excess money that wasn’t going out just seemed to disappear. The boss is about to kill someone. The word “embezzlement” and “theft” is being thrown around. If I am charged with “embezzlement” does Attorney Gaba have an accountant or CPA to help her with the research and analysis of all the money that came in the door and went out the door?
ANSWER: YES. Attorney Gaba has had “missing money” cases in the past. She has accountants and CPAs on call who can help her reconstruct and recreate a money trail and further testify in court. Remember: the prosecution must first establish their case of how much money there was in the first instance. If there never were any accurate accounting books and ledgers, the defense may make a motion to dismiss if the prosecution doesn’t establish a case to begin with.

QUESTION: I took over caring for my sister’s child because the child was so sick and my sister had other children to take care of. I took the child to a “free open clinic” to have it checked on. Fifteen minutes after I got home a worker for the county came and took the child from me. The papers I received used the phrase “child endangerment” which I believe is completely untrue. A week or two later the police came to my door and handed me a doctor’s report and an indictment paper. I am being accused of a felony. How can I figure out what the papers are saying?
ANSWER: Attorney Gaba will sit down and go over the “legal” papers with you. She
also has access to and a working relationship with medical doctors. That will allow her to interpret the “medical papers”. Should you choose to hire her, she will defend you on the felony charges (which will be more specifically known when the legal papers are read).

QUESTION: I am a 27 year old woman. Three days after my birthday I got roaring drunk and did things with the 14 year old boy I was babysitting for. The boy wasn’t hurt.  He actually learned stuff. I have been charged with “sexual crimes” involving a minor child. How can I be charged with a sex crime if boys are expected to be sexually proactive. How are they to know anything if no one teaches them. Can women be charged with sexual felonies.
ANSWER: YES, women can be charged with “sexual felonies”. The same laws that protect under-aged girl are also applied and are used to protect under-aged males. Merely because you are charged does not necessarily mean that you will be convicted, YOU ARE ENTITLED TO PUT UP A STRONG AND VIGOROUS DEFENSE IN THE SAME FASHION THAT MEN ACCUSED TO BREAKING THE LAW SEXUALLY WITH UNDER AGED GIRLS ARE ENTITLED TO PUT FORTH A MEANINGFUL AND VIGOROUS DEFENSE.

QUESTION: About four of us, at a party had sex with a woman who participated freely. She is known for being a mental “dim bulb”. I guess she knew what she was doing even though she was drunk out of her mind. The three other guys have all been deported. I am the only person who has been charged. Can the prosecutor bring sexual charges against only me and not the other fellows?
ANSWER: YES. Like any other rape case (or similar type of charge) the prosecutor must establish every element of the crime to a particular level of certainty. You are entitled to put forth at your defense. Possibly in pretrial motions more facts will come to light. Answers to questions such as this depend on more and more detail of the facts and circumstances. Don’t sit around worrying about the fact that the other men superficially are off the hook. Spend all your time working with your attorney on the defense end of things.

QUESTION: I am being charged with sexual crimes involving an under-aged girl. The indictment paper says things happened on a single occasion and gave the exact date. On the entire day in question I was with my buddy who was being shipped out to Iraq. He can provide me with a comprehensive alibi. If I hire Attorney Gaba can she find this guy and get his statement?
ANSWER: Are you are able to provide his complete name and the military service that he is in? If his name is Bill Smith, things will be difficult. The rules of criminal procedure do provide for perpetuation of testimony of a far, distant and otherwise unavailable witness. It will take much work. There is no guarantee. However if his testimony will have a significant influence in the case, Attorney Gaba will expend all necessary energy.

QUESTION: There are quite a few guys on my bowling team who owe back child support. We are all about the same age, same height, same weight and work for the same company. Half the guys are left alone by there ex-spouses. Two guys have civil contempt charges against them. I am the only guy who has felony charges filed because of non-payment. If we are all identical, why am I being picked on.
ANSWER: You are not being picked on. You are not all identical. Ask your buddies how much they owe. Ask them how long it’s been since they have paid anything. Willful failure to pay child support can be charged as a FELONY. People convicted of felony non-support can be sent to prison (not just jail) just as convicted armed robbers can be sent to prison. Don’t sit around and grumble. Hire an attorney and start working on your defense immediately.

QUESTION: I sat on my front porch and watch the teen aged guy who lives next to me as he burglarized the home of the old fellow who lived across the Street. About twenty minutes after he entered the house, there were gun shots and he (my teen aged neighbor) came running out of the house, across the Street, into my house, into my basement, and hid behind my furnace. The police came and I showed them where the teen aged neighbor was hiding. The old man across the street died of gun shot wounds. I am now charged with being an accomplice to murder. Has Trial Attorney Gaba actually worked on a case where someone died?
ANSWER: Yes, Attorney Gaba has worked on cases where one or more of the “victims” died.

QUESTION: On the internet I wrote to a girl who said she was 21, that my penis was like “an extended garden hose”. We wrote a bunch of other stuff to one another but never met. She turned out to be 12 years of age Her father called the police. Will “written words” get me in trouble? Will I be sent to prison?
ANSWER: Your question is not specific enough. I need to sit down with a potential client and discuss what the “bunch of other stuffs means. Will the written word get you in trouble? Yes, it already has. Will it get you convicted? Not necessarily. The first amendment to the U.S. federal constitution; freedom of expression and freedom of the speech is still alive and well. If the case goes to court, the outcome will depend on 225 years of case law regarding freedom of expression. It will be a difficult hurdle for the prosecutor. The “bunch of other stuff” may present additional difficulties depending what that phrase really means.

QUESTION: I met a girl on the internet. She admitted that she was 11 and had her mom’s permission to write. I asked her about her hobbies. Instead of answering she told me she had cute breasts, that they were small but growing nicely. I asked her how tall she was. She told me that she had begun to grow pubic hair. I asked if she participated in after school clubs. She said that all her girl friends and even her (girl) cousins were doing adult physical stuff with the boys. She said that if I came over to her house on a Sunday morning, when her mom was in church, she would come to the door stark naked. I said NO I didn’t want to get myself in trouble. She threatened that if I didn’t show up on a particular date (she gave me an exact day of the week and time of day) she would be so disappointed that she would set the hair on her head on fire with a cigarette lighter. I showed up to save her from herself. When I got to the door I was met by a police officer who hand-cuffed me and arrested me. I never suggested anything. The “young girl” tricked me into doing things that I never would have done on my own. She tricked and induced me to show up. Does the law of “internet entrapment” still apply. Or is “sexual entrapment” as old and as useless as a Studebaker automobile?
ANSWER: Entrapment as a defense to the charge of internet sexual enticement may be an effective and workable one. It does have a strict definition and application. Creating a defense for those caught in police generated scams takes hard work, lots of time, creativity and a correct application of a complex set of rules, It can be done. It is not easy by any means. The attorney that you work with will need every bit of writing during the entire internet relationship. Being a defense attorney is never easy, but the rewards in successfully defending a wrongly accused internet writer are priceless.

QUESTION: I am the acting head financial officer of a large corporation. About seven months out of the year the company has large amounts of cash, sitting unproductively in its checking account. To make better use of thisunused cash, I took it and bought the corporation shares of stock in very conservative companies. Because it would have taken too long to get corporate authority to open a separate brokerage account, I merely bought the corporation shares using my own brokerage account which was already in existence. As misfortune would have it, the purchased shares lost significant value. The withdrawn funds have been discovered, but are not currently traced to me. The corporation’s lawyers are now having fits. They are hysterically screaming embezzlement, breach of fiduciary duty, theft by deception and other phrases. Two accountants on my staff are currently on vacation and will be out of the country for another three weeks. Until they get back all is quiet. I never intended to keep any of the money. Has Trial Attorney Gaba ever worked on an “embezzlement” case?
ANSWER: YES, Trial Attorney Gaba has worked on embezzlement cases in the past. Her past clients tend to call these matters, “ missing money cases ”, or inadvertently co-mingled funds cases , or “ poorly thought out transfer of funds ” cases. The company owning the missing funds tend to be so concerned with retrieving the remaining balance of absconded funds that they tend to be open to discussion. These companies realize that postponing the filing of formal criminal charges, may lead to a greater statistical likelihood of getting a greater percentage of their dollars back. Great tact, diplomacy and finesse must be used. There is no guarantee, but these types of cases do not have to end in absolute disaster.