Updated October 2026 | The Bulldog Law | California Criminal Defense

Being under investigation means the police or a prosecutor are gathering evidence about a possible crime and you are a subject of it. No charge has been filed, no court date exists, and nothing appears on your record, and most investigations end without a filing. It is also the stage at which the case is actually decided: the detective's interview, the search of your phone, the pretext call from the accuser, and the statement you give to explain yourself are the evidence the filing deputy will read when deciding whether to charge. The rules are simple and hard to follow under pressure. Do not talk to investigators without a lawyer. Do not contact the accuser or witnesses. Do not delete anything. Retain a defense attorney now, while the decision is still open, because an attorney can present your side without exposing you and can frequently end the investigation before it becomes a case.

The Bulldog Law's attorneys are retained at the pre-charge stage in a large share of our cases, by people who received a detective's card, who learned that an accusation had been made, who were served with a search warrant, or who simply suspect that an incident is being looked at. The work at that stage is different from the work after a filing, and it is often more effective. What follows is how to recognize an investigation, what investigators are permitted to do and what they are not, the rights you have and how to use them, what to preserve and what never to touch, the statutes of limitations that govern how long the exposure lasts, and what pre-charge representation does. Call (888) 928-1609 or message our team.

How to recognize that you are under investigation

California law requires no notice to a person under investigation, and the first contact is often designed to look casual. The table lists the signs our attorneys see most often and what each usually means.

What investigators can do without charging you

The police may ask anyone questions, and a person may decline to answer and walk away from a consensual encounter; a detention requires reasonable suspicion of a crime and an arrest requires probable cause. They may lie during questioning about the evidence they have, about what witnesses have said, about whether a co-suspect has confessed, and about the consequences of refusing to talk, and a statement obtained by those lies is admissible so long as it was voluntary. They may obtain a search warrant under Penal Code 1524 for a home, a vehicle, a phone, a computer, or an account on a showing of probable cause, and a person must not interfere with its execution, though the person need not help, unlock a device, or answer questions during it; our discussions of phone seizures and police requests to enter a home cover the warrant and consent rules.

They may obtain records from third parties by subpoena, warrant, or court order, including bank, phone, location, and platform records, and our discussion of whether police can read your messages covers the online rules. They may arrange a pretext call or message from the accuser, recorded with their participation, which is lawful despite California's two-party consent rule because a police-directed recording is exempt.

They may conduct surveillance in public, obtain a DNA sample by warrant or from an item you discard, and ask you to consent to a search or a sample, which you may refuse. What they may not do is detain you without reasonable suspicion, search without a warrant, consent, or a recognized exception, continue questioning after you have clearly asked for a lawyer while in custody, or punish you for declining to speak. Evidence obtained in violation of those limits is suppressible later under Penal Code 1538.5, but suppression happens after a charge; the goal at this stage is to give them nothing to suppress.

Your rights, and the three statements that never help

The Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination applies before any charge, and invoking it is not evidence of guilt and cannot be used against you at trial; Cornell's summary of the Fifth Amendment explains the doctrine, and our discussion of whether pleading the Fifth makes you look guilty addresses the fear directly. The right to counsel attaches to custodial interrogation, and a person who says, clearly, that they want a lawyer and will not answer questions ends the interrogation. Outside custody, a person may simply decline to be interviewed. You must identify yourself when lawfully detained, as our page on when you have to identify yourself covers, and you must comply with a warrant, but nothing more. Three kinds of statements account for most of the damage our attorneys see at this stage.

The explanation, in which an innocent person tries to tell the detective what really happened and in doing so confirms presence, timeline, relationship, and a dozen facts the prosecution could not otherwise prove, and misstates one that becomes a lie. The denial of a specific detail, which is later contradicted by a text message, a receipt, or a camera and becomes consciousness of guilt. And the apology or the partial admission to the accuser, made to calm things down, which is recorded and becomes the case. None of these is improved by being true, and all of them are avoided by one sentence: I want to speak with a lawyer before I answer any questions.

What to preserve, and what never to touch

The instinct to clean up is the second most damaging one. Deleting messages, photos, accounts, or files that relate to an incident is destruction of evidence under Penal Code 135, a separate crime, and the deletion is usually recoverable from the device, the carrier, or the other party's phone, where it becomes the strongest evidence of guilt in the case. Factory-resetting a phone, wiping a computer, closing an account, or asking someone else to delete is the same. The opposite is the rule: preserve everything, because the evidence that ends a wrongful investigation is usually in your own records.

Save and back up messages, call logs, photos with their metadata, location history, ride and delivery receipts, work schedules, badge and door records, and the names and contact information of everyone who can place you somewhere or describe what happened; write a private, dated account for your attorney, and give it to no one else, because a narrative given to a friend is discoverable while one given to your lawyer is privileged. 

Do not contact the accuser, the accuser's family, or any witness, directly or through anyone else, about the incident or the investigation; any communication that could be read as an attempt to influence a statement is witness tampering under Penal Code 136.1, a felony, and even an innocent message is frequently the basis for a protective order that then restricts your life for the duration of the case. If a restraining order or a no-contact condition is already in place, the prohibition is absolute. And say nothing about the matter on social media, where posts are evidence, deletions are destruction, and privacy settings are not a barrier to a warrant.

How long the exposure lasts

An investigation that produces no charge does not close with a notice, and the only firm limit is the statute of limitations, which is the period after the offense within which a charge must be filed. The table gives the California rules, and our list of California charges shows which category each offense falls in.

An arrest warrant or a complaint filed within the period stops the clock, so a charge can be filed at the deadline and served much later, which is the origin of many bench warrant surprises. A person who was investigated and never charged can ask, through an attorney, whether the case was rejected by the prosecutor or remains open, and a rejection, while not final, is the closest thing to a closing notice the system provides.

What pre-charge representation does

A defense attorney retained before a charge has tools that disappear once the case is filed. The attorney contacts the detective, which stops further attempts to interview you and routes all communication through counsel; identifies the allegation, the accuser, and the status of the referral, which the detective will often share with a lawyer and never with a suspect; and, where the facts support it, presents the exculpatory evidence, the witness statements, the records, and the legal arguments to the detective and then to the filing deputy at the district attorney's office, who is the person who actually decides whether to charge and who reads a defense submission with far more attention than any argument made after filing.

In a case where a charge is likely, the attorney negotiates the charge before it is filed, which frequently means a misdemeanor instead of a felony, a citation instead of an arrest, or an agreement to diversion; arranges a voluntary surrender at a scheduled time so that there is no arrest at work or at home, bail is arranged in advance or release on own recognizance is agreed, and the first appearance happens with the attorney present; and prepares the suppression and defense motions from a position of knowing the case before the prosecution has finished building it. 

In a federal investigation, the attorney responds to the target letter, negotiates the terms of any grand jury appearance, and opens the proffer and cooperation discussions that shape the case long before an indictment. Across our practice, the single most common outcome of pre-charge representation in a disputed case is that no charge is filed, and the second most common is a charge far smaller than the one the detective described.

Frequently asked questions

How do you know if you are under investigation?

There is no notice requirement, so most people learn indirectly. The signs are a detective's call or card asking you to come in for an interview or to tell your side; officers contacting your family, employer, or friends; a search warrant served at your home, car, or phone; a subpoena or a preservation letter to your bank, employer, or phone carrier; a target letter in a federal case; a grand jury subpoena; a lawyer for someone else telling you that your name came up; and, for online activity, a notice from a platform that your records were requested. A person who sees any of these should assume they are a subject and speak to a defense attorney before responding.

Can you be investigated without being charged?

Yes, and most investigations end without charges. Police investigate on a report or a tip, gather evidence, and refer the case to the district attorney, who decides whether to file. The decision may take days or years, and the investigation can close quietly without anyone telling you. Being investigated creates no record, no court date, and no obligation to cooperate beyond lawful orders, such as a search warrant. It also creates the most important window in the case, because the decision whether to charge is made during it.

Should I talk to the police if I am innocent?

Not without an attorney. The detective's interview is not an opportunity to clear your name; it is evidence collection, and the officer is permitted to lie about what evidence exists, who has talked, and what happens if you decline. Innocent people make statements that are misremembered, inconsistent with a document they forgot, or simply wrong about a time or a detail, and those statements become the case. An attorney can give the police your side in a form that cannot be used against you, can find out what the investigation is about, and can often present the exculpatory evidence that ends it. Politely decline, say you want a lawyer, and call one.

What should you do if you are being wrongfully investigated?

Say nothing to investigators, to the accuser, or on social media; retain a criminal defense attorney before any interview; preserve everything that supports you, including messages, location data, receipts, and the names of witnesses; do not delete, alter, or hide anything, because destroying evidence is a crime and a sign of guilt; do not contact the accuser or witnesses, which can become a witness tampering or restraining order problem; and let the attorney communicate with the police and the prosecutor. A wrongful investigation is often ended by an attorney presenting the evidence of innocence to the detective or the filing deputy before a charge is filed.

How long can an investigation last before charges are filed?

As long as the statute of limitations allows. In California, most misdemeanors must be charged within one year of the offense, most felonies within three years, felonies punishable by eight years or more within six years, and certain serious offenses, including murder and some sex crimes, have no limit or extended limits. Federal crimes generally carry a five-year limit. An investigation that ends without charges has no official closing date, and a person may be contacted years later; an attorney can sometimes obtain confirmation that a case has been rejected or closed.

Can a lawyer stop charges from being filed?

Often. Pre-charge representation is the stage at which a defense attorney has the most leverage, because the prosecutor has not yet committed to a position. The attorney can present exculpatory evidence, witness statements, and legal arguments to the detective and the filing deputy; negotiate a lesser charge, a citation, or diversion before anything is filed; arrange a voluntary surrender instead of an arrest if a charge is coming; and, in a case with a real dispute, demonstrate that the prosecution cannot prove it. Many cases our attorneys handle at this stage end with no filing.

Related reading from our attorneys

• Does pleading the Fifth make you look guilty?
• Can the police take your phone?
• Motions to suppress evidence under Penal Code 1538.5

A detective wants to talk? Talk to us first

The Bulldog Law's criminal defense attorneys handle pre-charge investigations across California and in the federal courts, from the first call from a detective through the filing decision, with the goal of ending the case before it begins. Call (888) 928-1609 or reach us online before you answer any question.