What Does a Criminal Defense Lawyer Do?
A criminal defense attorney plays an important role when it comes to the rule of law. There are have been multiple instances throughout history when innocent people have been wrongfully accused of horrific crimes. And criminal defense lawyers have been there to stand up for the accused.
In short, that’s what a criminal defense lawyer does. However, their job is far more complicated than what we’ve just described. You need to know a bit about criminal law to fully understand how these attorneys do what they do. So, let’s get into it.
What Is Criminal Law?
Criminal defense law encompasses a set of legal proceedings meant to oppose accusations against an individual. In cases like these, even though the person has committed a crime against another individual, many states might treat their crime as if it was perpetrated against the state itself.
However, as the old saying goes, everyone is “innocent until proven guilty,” thus a criminal defense lawyer steps in. They use constitutional guarantees to give their clients an advantage. For example, the government cannot collect evidence by force, but rather with a warrant that was given out fairly by a judge.
Any evidence collected illegally is deemed invalid in court by the criminal defense attorney. Similarly, the lawyer can dismiss any accusations that involve unreliable witnesses (for example, psychiatric patients, people who were drugged or drunk at the time of the event, etc.). In short, criminal law refers to all the nuances of how the criminal justice system works to deem people either guilty or not guilty.
How Do You Become a Criminal Defense Lawyer?
The first and most important step is to enroll in law school. Many of the courses that are practiced at law school focus specifically on criminal defense law, so there’s no shortage of relevant information to learn once you start your studies.
Most of the time during law school, you’ll be spending your first year of criminal defense law studying how murder and sexual assault accusations work in the courtroom. You’ll be studying defenses and mitigation factors when it comes to the different circumstances in which those crimes can take place.
Of course, there are many more layers of criminal defense law that you will get to study during your time at law school. Juvenile, mental health, trial practice, white-collar crime, and much more similar domains will encompass the types of crime that you’ll be able to act as a defendant of.
Possible Defenses
One of the most common and simplest defenses is that of being innocent. If you truly are innocent, then this is the best tactic because the prosecution has to go through undeniable evidence to prove that you’re guilty. If there’s no indisputable evidence, then you have nothing to fear.
Another popular defense is to have an alibi. Were you somewhere else at the time of the crime and do you have pictures or videos proving so? Then congratulations, you’re dismissed based on this irrefutable proof.
As mentioned earlier in the article, constitutional violations represent another great defense. If the prosecutor got a hold of the evidence illegally, then it’s completely invalid. Alternatively, you could argue that you’ve committed the crime out of necessity, in the sense that you’ve done it in order to prevent an even bigger crime. For example, if you’ve stolen a car to help a person in need escape from a killer, then you might just be pardoned.
Similar to the crime made out of necessity is the plead of self-defense. If you’ve murdered someone while trying to prevent them from murdering you, then your chances of coming out clean are quite high. However, the autopsy and crime scene investigation must align with your claims.
What Questions Should You Ask a Criminal Defense Lawyer?
Not all criminal defense attorneys handle the same types of cases. Some of them only defend small things like DUI charges, while others handle the more serious stuff, like murder cases. It is of the highest essence that you get an attorney who has experience with your particular case type.
As such, the first thing you should ask a criminal defense attorney is what type of cases they are able to handle. You need to feel comfortable around them and be able to communicate easily. So, to get to know your lawyer better and be able to let them defend you, here are some related questions that you should ask:
- For how long have you been practicing law?
- Are you familiar with this type of case?
- Have you defended someone for the same crime before?
- How much of your career have you spent defending this type of case up until now?
- What information do you want me to prepare for you at our first meeting?
- How do you handle fees? (Per case, payment plans, hourly rate, etc.)
From here, you can probably figure out on your own what other questions you should ask your criminal defense lawyer depending on the context. You need to be able to think contextually as much as you can because there is no straightforward way to solve each case.
Final Thoughts
All in all, criminal defense lawyers are essential to our society because they are the ones who defend potentially innocent people. It’s bad enough that, throughout the years, our judicial system has wrongfully condemned loads of innocent people. However, without these lawyers, even more people would suffer the same horrible fate. And we don’t want that to happen anymore.
With that said, don’t be afraid to seek out a great lawyer for your case if you know that you’ve been wrongfully accused of something. More often than not, you’ll manage to get out free as long as the evidence is inconclusive and your defense is top-notch.
We hope we’ve made things easier to understand for you. If you think there’s something we’ve missed, feel free to leave a comment down below and share your thoughts with the rest of our community. We’re always looking forward to hearing diverse opinions.
