How to Defend Your Innocence If You Face Criminal Charges

To err is human but some mistakes are very costly. For example, even the most experienced prosecutors, sometimes, unintentionally file lawsuits against the innocent suspects. Whatever the reasons might be, the defendants are entitled to know different options at their disposal to avoid a conviction. The first thing they should do is to consult a criminal defense lawyer in Galveston. This blog is meant to provide some authentic details about how an innocent defendant can dodge a guilty plea or verdict.

Limited and Flawed Information

The police report of the crime is often the first thing to reach the desk of the prosecutor who will ultimately decide on filling a case. The preliminary report does not contain all the nitty-gritty and therefore, is limited by nature. On top of that, police reports often contain erroneous information because of the fads by witnesses, bias or flaws on part of the officers.

For any of the above-stated reasons, a preliminary report submitted by the police might make a mountain of the molehill, such as exchange of words between two persons during an argument that started tamely but tailed to fists and fights. Chances are not nil or negligible that the information would be flatly wrong. For example, when the aggressor falsely claims that the suspect attacked him whereas the defendant did everything in his self-defence. Alleged victims might resort to hyperbole about their injuries.

The innocent suspect, who has been framed in a specious charge, is entitled to the option of fighting it out at the trials, with a hope for exoneration. Criminal trials and the preceding processes are risky and costly. Furthermore, they put heavy stress on the defendant, especially if he is innocent. This explains why some good criminal defense lawyers always try to nip the matter in the bud through successful negotiation.

Interference before Charges

Contrary to what is commonly perceived and propagated, advice and actions of an experienced criminal defense attorney are needed not only during the trials but also throughout the pre-trial communication process. Having said that, no sane mind should force you to rush through the decision and you should never hire a lawyer who is coercing you to hire his service. Just because you are hiring an attorney for preliminary stages, it never means you need to stick to the professional throughout the next stages. You can always switch to another lawyer if needed.

If the facts are favorable, some attorneys will try to interfere even before the prosecutor files charges. It might lead to contacting the officer who made the arrest or investigated before the documents reach the prosecutor’s table or contacting the prosecutor before he makes the filing decision.

If the cases are not very serious, the defence lawyer might make all possible efforts to prevent the case from meeting the courtroom trials. However, the defendants should not raise the bar of their expectations much high above the threshold of pragmatism as they might be disappointed.

Case Dismissal

More often, innocent suspects are made to wait until charge filing before their lawyers can intervene. However, that is not a harbinger of the court trials. During the meeting with the lawyer, the client usually reveals the relevant facts so that the lawyer can ponder over the options.

The lawyer, on strength of collected evidences, might persuade the prosecutor to dismiss the charges. He, depending on the situation, might decide not to plunge into the details with the prosecution in fear of revealing materials in advance before the case proceeds to a potential trial.