How a Criminal Attorney Can Help You

May 3, 2019 Posted in Felonies

Being a convicted criminal can turn your life and future upside down. Sure, you’ll need to get through prison life, but your future is also an important consideration. Having a criminal record, even if you have already served your sentence, can bar you from voting, employment, housing, social benefits, traveling, and even the right to bear arms.

To prevent conviction, you need a criminal defense. But how exactly can they help you?

Building Your Defense

A criminal attorney can help you find out multiple ways you can defend yourself. You can be the smartest person in the world, but once you’re suspected of a crime, your movement and access to information may be limited.

A criminal attorney can be there to investigate for you. He can look for crucial witnesses that will speak up in your defense or get the sentence that the prosecuting party is handing to you reduced. He can also find documents and even cobble together video evidence to get you acquitted.

He will gather facts and stitch them together to improve your defense.

Providing Information About the Laws

Ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense — especially when you are being apprehended and tried. Is that fair? In a sense, it is. Because if you can plead not guilty whenever you disobeyed a law due to ignorance, and get away with it, then many criminals would be acquitted. After all, there is no reliable method for detecting lies and scanning minds to know if ignorance of the law is truly at fault.

So, if ignorance of the law won’t help your defense, you need someone who has comprehensive knowledge of the law to aid you. That is what a lawyer is for. That’s their job after all.

Knowledge of the laws related to your case is important if you want to get acquitted or push for better bargain pleas. Your lawyer can inform you of all the laws you need to know and use his extensive knowledge on your behalf.

Knowing Your Rights

Aside from the related laws you need to know, you also need to know about your rights as a defendant. The laws, and the due processes that come with them, can be intricate, nuanced, and tricky. One small misstep can cost you your freedom and getting a lawyer can protect you from many prosecutorial misconducts.

Remember that prosecutors can use all the tricks they know to take advantage of your ignorance in order to win a case. For example, they can coerce you to agree to an unfair bargain, even if you are innocent and your case is easily winnable.

Trial Support

Being tried is a stressful event in one’s life. Even if your case is just a small misdemeanor, it could trigger anxiety or panic attacks. A lawyer can be there to provide you with professional and emotional support while you are in a courtroom.

Lighter Sentences and Better Plea Bargains

A lawyer can help you receive a lighter sentence or get better plea bargains. He can also help you expunge your records to make sure that the charges against you will not ruin your future and will not take away your rights as a citizen.