If you cannot afford a lawyer after a Rhode Island arrest, you have the constitutional right to a public defender. The court will assess your financial eligibility at arraignment and appoint a Rhode Island Public Defender lawyer if you qualify. Public defenders are skilled lawyers, but they typically carry hundreds of cases at once. For serious charges, many defendants who can stretch their resources choose to hire a private criminal defense lawyer for the dedicated attention the case demands. A private lawyer can often be retained on a payment plan and can give your case the bandwidth a public defender cannot.
