Defence in English before the courts of San Vicente del Raspeig, a town with its own judicial district, a border with the city of Alicante and the main university campus of the province.
A great many of the files here involve people in their twenties, first offences and a night that got out of hand. Handled early they are manageable; handled late they follow someone for years.
In brief. English-speaking defence before the San Vicente del Raspeig courts: minor offences, nightlife assaults, drug and online allegations, drink driving.
San Vicente del Raspeig heads its own judicial district within the province of Alicante and shares a boundary with the city itself. An arrest made in the early hours can therefore be resolved within a matter of hours rather than days, provided the defence is present from the first step and not once the file is already pointing in one direction.
The town also holds the main campus of the University of Alicante, and that shows in the work. A high proportion of files involve young people: minor offences, altercations arising out of the night-time economy, small-scale dealing among people who know each other, and offences committed through a telephone or a laptop rather than in the street.
For a British or Irish family this is unfamiliar territory in two ways at once. The offence categories do not map onto English ones, and the procedure moves far faster than anything at home. A minor matter can be listed and disposed of within days of the arrest, which is an advantage where the defence is ready and a serious problem where it is not. Parents in particular tend to expect a wait of several months, use that time to gather advice at home, and discover that the hearing has already taken place.
What is said or withheld at the first interview shapes the whole file, because the investigation is built on the material collected in those first hours and is very rarely rebuilt afterwards. Our page on the English-speaking criminal lawyer service explains how we work across the province. Book a consultation→ Speak to a lawyer now
Spanish Criminal Code articles with their statutory brackets. They describe the range open to a court, not the outcome of any particular case.
A push or a slap that leaves no injury needing treatment is a delito leve, tried at a short hearing that can be listed within days of the incident. It is still a criminal matter and it is still recorded.
Once a medical report records stitches, a fracture or a follow-up appointment, the file moves up a band. Where a weapon or an object was used, or several people acted together, the range rises again.
Group disturbances, damage caused in the course of them and confrontations with door staff or police are charged as disorder, and the fact that a defendant did nothing individually does not by itself answer the allegation.
Sharing, splitting a purchase or holding for someone else can be treated as supply rather than personal use. Where the quantity is small and the circumstances limited, the second paragraph of Article 368 allows the court to impose a lower penalty.
Tickets, phones, deposits for rooms and accounts sold and never delivered. These files are documentary from beginning to end, and the messages usually decide them long before anyone gives evidence.
Getting into somebody else’s account, reading their messages, or passing on intimate images obtained with consent but shared without it, are all offences, and among younger clients they are the fastest growing category. Screenshots are rarely enough on their own; what the court will want is the account activity, the dates and the route the material actually took.
Property taken from a flat or a bar, and vehicles taken and abandoned, are ordinary work in a district of shared housing. Returning the property and offering compensation early carries real weight as a mitigating circumstance.
Late-night checks on the routes between the campus, the town and the city are frequent. Above the statutory reading the offence is complete, and refusing the test is charged separately and more heavily.
Arguments in shared or family housing are reported by neighbours as often as by the people involved. The police open the file themselves, and a protective measure can be in force before either party has taken advice.
Statutory brackets and the ordinary procedural route. Position within a bracket depends on the facts found, on any record and on mitigation, and cannot be promised in advance.
| Offence | Article | Statutory penalty | Usual route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assault leaving no treatable injury | Art. 147.3 CP | Fine of 1 to 2 months | Minor-offence hearing |
| Injuries requiring medical treatment | Art. 147.1 CP | 3 months to 3 years, or a fine | Fast-track trial |
| Aggravated injuries | Art. 148 CP | 2 to 5 years | Investigation then trial |
| Public disorder | Art. 557 CP | 6 months to 3 years | Investigation then trial |
| Supply of cannabis | Art. 368 CP | 1 to 3 years, reducible for slight gravity | Investigation then trial |
| Unauthorised access to messages or images | Art. 197.1 CP | 1 to 4 years, and a fine | Investigation then trial |
| Taking a vehicle without consent | Art. 244.1 CP | Fine of 12 to 24 months | Fast-track trial |
| Driving over the statutory alcohol limit | Art. 379.2 CP | 3 to 6 months, fine or community work, plus a ban | Fast-track trial |
Three provisions matter disproportionately to young defendants. A sentence of up to two years on someone with no previous convictions in Spain may be suspended under Article 80. A drug offence of slight gravity may attract a reduced penalty under the second paragraph of Article 368. And a minor-offence file may be discontinued altogether where the public interest does not require a trial and the harm has been repaired.
You may be held for up to 72 hours before release or production before a judge, but in a district of this size the practical timetable is much shorter. Minor matters are frequently dealt with within days, sometimes at a single hearing.
That is precisely why the police station matters. A young person who has been awake all night, who wants the situation over with and who is told that cooperating will speed things up, will very often give an account that cannot afterwards be improved on.
Nothing in Spanish procedure requires you to answer questions, and silence carries no adverse inference. Our guide to arrest and police custody rights sets out the position in full. The decision is tactical, it depends on what the file already contains, and it should never be taken by someone who has not seen the papers.
Article 520 gives a person in custody a confidential consultation before questioning. Asking for it is not an admission of anything and it costs nothing but a short wait.
Much depends on whether there is CCTV, a medical report or a message thread. Answering before anyone has looked is how a defensible position is given away.
You are entitled to interpretation at every stage. Complaints about its quality must be recorded when they arise, not raised for the first time at trial.
Returning property, paying for damage or meeting a medical bill is an express mitigating circumstance, and in minor matters it can determine whether there is a trial at all.
Four stages, with the Spanish names given where English procedure offers no equivalent.
Detention after an incident in the town or a stop on the road. The atestado is compiled and sent on, and any medical evidence is taken at this point. Where drugs are involved, the analysis and weighing of the substance follow later and can change the classification of the offence entirely.
An investigating court — a juzgado de instrucción — takes the file, decides whether there is a case to answer and rules on any measures. For minor offences the matter may instead be listed for an immediate hearing without a full investigation.
A minor-offence hearing, a fast-track trial with the option of an agreed disposal, or a full trial with written accusation and defence. The heaviest charges go to the Audiencia Provincial of Alicante.
Sentence, a short and strictly applied appeal period, and then enforcement. A Spanish conviction is recorded and can matter for residence, for work and for travel long after the penalty itself has been served.
Young people facing a first file, and families abroad who need to understand, in English, what has actually happened and how quickly it will move.
People arrested after an argument at a flat or a bar, where the neighbours called the police and everyone has a different account of the evening.
Clients facing allegations arising out of accounts, group chats and shared photographs, where the evidence is entirely documentary.
Complainants who want to take an active part in the case rather than wait to be called as a witness, particularly where property or money is to be recovered. The injured party in Spain may instruct their own lawyer within the criminal case, which is a stronger position than the equivalent at home.
How we work across the province, what happens at a first consultation and which courts deal with which matters.
Where personal use ends and supply begins, and how the reduction for facts of slight gravity is argued in practice.
How defence work is quoted, what a minor-offence hearing involves and how instructions are given when a family is paying from abroad.
Instruct a lawyer to attend the police station. A lawyer of your choice can be appointed by telephone and will see him privately before any questioning. We can take the arrangements from you as parents, but he remains the client, and there are limits on what can be shared without his agreement. What matters immediately is that nobody signs a statement before a private consultation has taken place.
Possession for your own use is an administrative penalty, not a crime. It becomes criminal when the circumstances suggest supply, and sharing or splitting a purchase among friends can be read that way. Where the quantity and the circumstances are limited, the second paragraph of Article 368 allows a lower penalty, and that argument has to be made with evidence rather than assertion. Our drug offence guide explains how that line is drawn.
Yes. Minor offences are dealt with at short hearings that can follow within days of the report, which is one of the real differences from English practice. It is also why preparation has to start at once: witnesses, messages and any offer of compensation need to be ready before the date rather than after it.
It can be. Passing on intimate images obtained with consent but distributed without it is an offence, as is getting into somebody’s account or reading their messages. Evidence disappears quickly in these cases, so preserving the material, the account activity and the dates is the first practical step.
A Spanish conviction is recorded and can be relevant to residence applications, to certain kinds of employment and to some visa processes. A university may also run its own disciplinary procedure, which is separate from the criminal case and follows different rules. The two should not be answered as if they were one.
Sometimes, but only once the file has been read. An agreed disposal before the investigating court carries a reduction of one third and brings matters to a close, which for a student can be worth a great deal. It is also final and it produces a record, so it is never the right answer to an allegation that cannot be proved.
If you or a member of your family has been arrested or summoned in San Vicente del Raspeig, the useful conversation is the one that happens before any account is given.
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