Prosecutors do not dismiss felony charges simply because the defendant wants a dismissal. Let’s be honest, who actually wants a felony conviction on their record? Every person charged with a felony would like the charge dismissed. Attempting to persuade a prosecutor to dismiss a criminal charge following a felony arrest is not easy. A good lawyer will have a strategy to negotiate for a dismissal of charges other than merely whining. People sometimes tend to think that money, power, or political connections are required to get out of trouble. In my experience, obtaining a dismissal has less to do with money or connections and more to do with the evidence available to the prosecutor and the quality of the evidence. Educating a prosecutor about the weakness of his or her case is not an easy task. Some prosecutors have a certain mentality that clouds their ability to see the case from the defense attorney’s perspective. Consequently, the prosecutor may not be open-minded enough to listen to the defense attorney’s perspective. Other prosecutors may recognize the weakness, but lack the courage to dismiss the case and instead want to let the jury decide the outcome. In other instances, a dismissal of a felony charge may also depend on whether the client may be able to assist the prosecutor in providing information that may lead to the arrest and indictment of other individuals, i.e. helping catch the big fish. The problem with this latter approach is that people will read a blog entry such as this one and think that they should talk to law enforcement when they are arrested and immediately share information with the police which is about the worst mistake a person can make. A prosecutor has little incentive to assist an individual once the individual has admitted wrong doing and implicated themselves in criminal activity. The best advice for a person facing a felony offense is to hire a reputable criminal lawyer with trial experience who also has successfully obtained dismissals of charges for his clients.