December 8, 2024
Which legal rights and options your criminal defense lawyer will explore

Finding yourself accused of a crime you feel powerless and overwhelmed. But an experienced criminal defense lawyer will vigorously explore every available legal right and option to build the strongest case for your innocence or mitigating circumstances.  Defense lawyers know that evidence obtained illegally gets thrown out. If police conducted searches without proper warrants or probable cause, your attorney will argue to suppress any resulting evidence through motions. This removes tainted information from the trial and weakens the prosecution. Even small procedural missteps by police provide grounds for suppression.

Disputing the Admissibility of Confessions

They are experienced defence lawyer in brampton on allegedly incriminating statements made by the accused during interrogation. Your lawyer will attempt to exclude coerced or improperly obtained confessions by arguing you weren’t read your full Miranda rights or that police used unconstitutional psychological pressure. Having a key confession deemed inadmissible collapses the prosecution’s case.

 Leveraging the right to remain silent

The 5th Amendment protects your right not to incriminate yourself, so your lawyer may advise declining questioning and testifying altogether. With no contradictory statements from you, the prosecution must build their case fully on their evidence and witnesses. Silence doesn’t equate to guilt in the eyes of the law. Exercising this right preserves important legal defences. If the case rests heavily on eyewitness accounts, your lawyer has options to undermine their reliability. Witnesses misremember events or identify the wrong person. Skilled cross-examination highlighting contradictions, lighting conditions, distances, and other factors discredit witnesses. Convictions based solely on unreliable eyewitnesses have been overturned.

 Asserting important privileges

Certain communications are privileged under the law, meaning you are compelled to disclose them at trial. This includes lawyer-client discussions, communications between spouses, and exchanges with medical professionals, and talks with religious clerics. Assert these privileges to exclude potentially sensitive yet protected conversations from evidence.  Beyond sowing reasonable doubt, your lawyer brings forward alternate theories of the case explaining your innocence. If you have an alibi, they will gather testimony and records to substantiate that you were elsewhere at the time. Evidence pointing to another perpetrator provides a credible counter-narrative. Juries acquit if presented with plausible alternate sequences of events.

Contesting forensic evidence

Even scientific forensic proof requires critical examination. Your lawyer challenges everything from DNA or ballistics methodology to the chain of custody of samples and certainty of expert conclusions. Retaining respected independent specialists to review procedures and results reveals vulnerabilities prosecutors hide. Reframing technical evidence creates doubt.

Negotiating plea bargains

Despite their courtroom tactics, defense lawyers of cases resolve via plea bargains rather than trials. Depending on the charges and evidence, pursuing a negotiated plea deal may serve your interests best. Your lawyer aggressively bargains with prosecutors to reduce penalties compared to a potential guilty verdict.