Criminal defense
Most prosecutors are open to reducing or even dismissing your criminal charges. But you need an attorney fighting for you.
Facing criminal charges is traumatizing and paralyzing. That’s all part of the prosecution’s plan. The state wants you to feel weak so you hastily agree to an unfair plea deal. The state wants you to forget that you are presumed innocent.
Fortunately, you have Vegas Golden Law in your corner to fight fire with fire. In protecting your rights, we stack the deck back against the state.
The practice has defended criminal cases in Clark County since 1974, first as the Law Offices of John J. Momot, then as Momot & Zheng from 2009, and as Vegas Golden Law since 2019. That is a long time in the same courthouses, in front of the same judges and prosecutors.
Experience in a courtroom teaches you how that courtroom works — which arguments land, which prosecutors will negotiate, and how a given judge runs a calendar. Many cases are resolved without a trial. Where a case should be tried, it is tried.
Vegas Golden Law handles the range of Nevada and federal criminal charges, from a citation written on public land to a category A felony. Five decades of criminal work in these courthouses teaches you that each case is unique and demands a defense built for its own facts.
Vegas Golden Law treats every client like our most important client, and prepares every case as though it will be tried.
Vegas Golden Law is here if you or someone you love is fighting criminal charges in Clark County or Pahrump. Consultations with attorney Yi Lin Zheng, Esq., are always free, so do not hesitate to call us at 702-385-7170.
An arrest is the beginning of a process, not the end of one. What happens next turns on three things: what you are actually charged with, which court the case lands in, and whether it is a Nevada state matter under the Nevada Revised Statutes or a federal one. None of that is always obvious from the paperwork you were handed, and each answer changes what your options are.
Some of the clock starts running immediately, and quietly. A Nevada DUI is the clearest example. The temporary licence an officer issues after a DUI arrest is effective for only7 days including the date of issuance (NRS 484C.220(1)). The Department of Motor Vehicles revocation runs on a separate, parallel track from the criminal case (NRS 484C.220 and NRS 484C.230) — two proceedings, two outcomes. Someone who spends that first week waiting for a court date can lose the licence question without ever being heard on it. Read it the way the statute reads: you generally have 7 days to act before the temporary licence expires.
Casino markers run on a clock of their own. Under NRS 205.132(1)(b), intent to defraud is presumed unless the drawer pays the amount in full, plus handling charges, within5 days after receiving notice — five, not the ten that gets repeated around town.
None of that requires knowing any law, and all of it makes the first conversation with a lawyer more useful. That conversation is free at Vegas Golden Law — 702-385-7170, seven days a week.
A Nevada state charge is brought under the Nevada Revised Statutes and heard in Clark County. A federal charge is brought under federal law and heard in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada — in Las Vegas, the Lloyd D. George Courthouse at 333 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; in the north, the Bruce R. Thompson Courthouse in Reno. Different rules, different prosecutors, different rhythm.
The federal side has a category with no real state equivalent: the petty offense. Under 18 U.S.C. § 19 that means a Class B misdemeanor, a Class C misdemeanor, or an infraction, and 18 U.S.C. § 3559(a) defines a Class B misdemeanor as six months or less but more than thirty days. Petty offenses go before a magistrate judge.
Here is the part that catches people out. Fed. R. Crim. P. 58(b)(2) provides that there is no right to a jury trial for a petty offense, and no right to appointed counsel for a petty offense for which counsel is not required. Someone who assumes a public defender will simply be appointed, because that is how it looks on television, can find themselves in federal court on their own. Rule 58(d)(1) also allows the court to accept a fixed-sum payment in lieu of the defendant’s appearance and end the case — a real option, and one worth understanding before taking it.
A large share of the federal charges written in southern Nevada come off public land, and which agency’s ground you were standing on changes the ceiling. Lake Mead is National Park Service land under 36 CFR, where 36 CFR 1.3(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 1865 cap the penalty at a fine and not more than 6 months — a petty offense. Red Rock Canyon is Bureau of Land Management land under 43 CFR 8360.0-7: up to $1,000 and up to 12 months, past the petty-offense ceiling. Two agencies, two ceilings, twenty miles apart. More on our page about federal offenses on public land.
Whether you have to show up at all can turn on a single tick box: a Central Violations Bureau citation can usually be resolved without appearing unless Box A on the face of the violation notice is checked, in which case appearance is mandatory.
Nevada sorts criminal offenses by the punishment available rather than by how the charge sounds. The grade drives everything downstream — where the case is heard, what the exposure is, and how long the record follows you afterwards.
Two features of that list are worth dwelling on. The first is the threshold effect: a single number can move a case from one grade to another. A casino marker for $1,199 and one for $1,200 are not the same case, and markers passed in Nevada within 90 days can be added together to reach the line. The second is that prior history can do the same work — three prior convictions make a bad-check offense a category D felony regardless of the amount (NRS 205.130(2)).
Markers are their own subject, from the 5-day notice period to the Clark County District Attorney’s Bad Check Unit and its diversion program. We have written that up separately under casino markers.
What a first appearance involves varies by court, by charge, and by whether the case is state or federal, so no web page can tell you how yours will go. Ask your lawyer, or the clerk of the court named on your paperwork, what that particular calendar looks like. A few things are worth knowing before you walk in.
If you would rather not walk in alone, call Vegas Golden Law at 702-385-7170. Consultations are free, seven days a week, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm, and Yi Lin Zheng, Esq., speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
A criminal case does not end when the sentence does; the record outlasts it. Nevada does allow records to be sealed, and NRS 179.2445 creates a presumption in favour of sealing — where the prosecutor stipulates, the court shall seal.
NRS 179.245 sets the waiting period, measured from release from actual custody or discharge from parole or probation, whichever is later: 1 year for most misdemeanors; 2 years for a gross misdemeanor, a category E felony, or a misdemeanor battery, harassment, stalking, or protective-order violation; 5 years for a category B, C, or D felony; 7 years for a misdemeanor DUI or battery domestic violence; and 10 years for a category A felony, a crime of violence, or residential burglary under NRS 205.060.
A case that was dismissed, or that ended in acquittal, can be petitioned immediately under NRS 179.255(1). Where prosecution was declined, the petition can come after the statute of limitations has run, 8 years after the arrest, or by stipulation.
Some records are never sealable. NRS 179.245(6) excludes a crime against a child, a sexual offense, invasion of the home with a deadly weapon (NRS 205.067), felony DUI under NRS 484C.400(1)(c), offenses under NRS 484C.430, DUI-related homicide, and felony offenses under NRS 488.410, 488.420, and 488.425.
Consultations are always free. Call Vegas Golden Law at 702-385-7170.
Seven days a week, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm
