If you live in Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs or Sanford, Lake Mary and you’re facing criminal charges, then you need to get a Seminole County Criminal Attorney to defend your rights.
There’re many criminal Attorneys in Seminole county with different years of practice and specialty who’ll help you with whatever charges you’re facing whether it’s; violence, assault, theft, robbery charges, etc.
The following are the duties of a criminal attorney;
- Assessing the case
The role of a criminal defense attorney begins before he even makes an appearance in court for trial. He must have an in-depth understanding of the charges facing his client. Some law firms have private investigators to do the work of interviewing the state’s witnesses and the accused witnesses. Some attorneys will do this work by themselves.
After gathering all the information, it’s the defense attorney’s job to determine the chances of conviction or acquittal of his client. He then starts to plan how best to present the case to the court.
- Should be able to strategize
A defense attorney should be able to determine the potential defense options for his client and decide to choose the best option. In most cases, a case can be argued in several ways. It depends on the defense attorney to look at them all and choose the one that he thinks is the most effective for the case.
He can also ask the client to accept a plea bargain. The defense attorney should find strategies to persuade the jury of his client’s innocence during court proceedings.
- Handling pleas
The prosecutor can contact the defense attorney earlier on a case and make an offer for a plea bargain, this involves the accused pleading guilty, but to a minor case than the one the state has charged him with. This will in return save the state time and money because the case doesn’t have to proceed to trial. The accused will receive a lighter sentence. It’s the defense attorney duty to determine whether accepting the deal serves the interest of his client based on the thorough investigation that he has done.
- Trying the case
The accused can accept a deal or go on a trial. His attorney should advise him which option he thinks is the best, but the decision solely depends on the defendant. If a case proceeds to the trial, the complexity of the attorney’s job will depend on whether the case will be heard with a jury or a single judge.
The attorney’s role will be assessing how each juror feels about his client if the case is to be heard by a jury. When the trials begin, the attorney’s role changes to presenting evidence and testimonies according to the court rules to defend his client.
- Keep the clients updated
It’s the criminal defense attorney duty to keep his client updated about the progress of the case. He also needs to appear in court on a number of times. He should always be punctual without any delay.
- He should be an advisor
The defense attorney should be able to give his client advice throughout the process. He should urge his client when to speak or to remain silent especially if it serves the client’s best interest. He can advise his client on how to look, talk and behave while in court.
- Must be able to handle stressful situations
This job can be stressful because of fluctuating working hours or attending proceedings of the cases at unexpected time, and the defense attorney still has to prepare and devote himself to the case. He must be capable of handling stressful situations.
