When creating a defense strategy, you should weigh all factors to ensure that you come up with the best criminal defense strategy that is most likely to succeed. Consider the defendant’s explanation of what transpired, why, and their credibility. In addition, factor in the witnesses’ testimonies and credibility. There are more key things that you should evaluate to develop the best defense strategy. Learn more here. Some defensive strategies include:
1. Beyond Reasonable Doubt
For a defendant to be proven guilty, the judge should have very satisfactory evidence such that no reasonable person can doubt the defendant’s guilt. Seek to create reasonable doubt in the judge’s mind by raising questions about the prosecution witnesses’ credibility. Illustrate bias on the part of prosecution witnesses, who might be lying. There are numerous burdens of proof of standards. Learn more here. You can also expose police mistakes in collecting, keeping, and testing physical evidence.
2. Mistaken Identity
Many times enforcement officers arrest the wrong person for a crime. Furthermore, other times they use leading questions to persuade a witness to falsely attest against a suspect during a trial. Police can also apply deceitful techniques to get you to implicate yourself while making your statement.
3. Self-Defense
Sometimes a crime can be carried out with the intent of protecting yourself from imminent danger. This may not be considered a crime. However, the self-defense argument applies only when the force applied to the intruder was proportional to the harm that they could have caused.
4. Police Misconduct
Some police officers engage in misconduct during investigations, which leads to wrongful convictions. Police misconduct includes manufacturing, destroying, or hiding evidence. Additionally, some detectives can lie when testifying, resulting in wrongful convictions. For more examples of police misconduct that you can use as a strategy learn more here. If the jury hears or sees some incriminating information caused by police, the evidence presented may be thrown out as inadmissible.
5. Entrapment
It happens when a law-abiding citizen is induced by police officers to commit a crime either by coercion or intimidation. This applies to a drug, child pornography, and prostitution crimes.
6. Insanity
Insanity is defined as the inability to differentiate right from wrong. In most cases, you cannot be found guilty of a crime you committed when insane. California courts apply the M’Naghten Rule that requires that the accused didn’t understand the nature of the crime or that the act was morally wrong. For various insanity defense tests used by various states, learn more here.
7. Alibi
This type of evidence tries to show the judge that you were not at the location of the crime when it occurred, and couldn’t have physically committed the alleged crime.
Lack of Probable Cause Suspicion
You can argue that the police officer who stopped or arrested you didn’t have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to justify the arrest. A criminal defense lawyer may argue that the law enforcement officer didn’t have specific articulable facts to justify the stop and the detention.
Strong criminal defense strategies may make the difference between the defendant being charged or going free. There are numerous criminal defense strategies that you may apply depending on the nature of your case and personal facts.
