Criminal Lawyer
Being arrested and charged with a crime can be a terribly frightening experience. All of a sudden, you have been handcuffed and are being guided into the back of a cop car. The person accused may not know what to say, out of fear they will do the wrong thing and only make things worse. An attorney can help you overcome this through creating a strong defense strategy for your trial.
Depending on what you were charged with, we may decide that using one or a combination of the following may help you the most:
Self-Defense
If you were accused of assaulting another person, but the reality is that this individual had approached you in a threatening way, then the self-defense strategy may be best. The police may have arrived at the scene and saw two people engaged in a fight, but did not witness the moments leading up the altercation. They may have arrested you on assumption you were at least partially at-fault for the incident. If we are in a situation where we feel we may become harmed due to another person, we may react with physical conflict as means to protect ourselves.
Consent
The consent defense strategy may be used for those who were partaking in the behavior described, but should not held legally liable because consent was given. With the consent defense, the accused is not denying that the activity occurred. The officer may have automatically arrested you out of suspicion of rape, sexual assault or other sexual conduct, without asking for more information. Those charged with sexual assault or something similar, may face many years in prison. An attorney can help you gather evidence which supports your claims that consent was in fact provided by the other party.
Insanity
The accused may use the insanity defense if they suffer from a mental impairment, in which they are not able to determine right from wrong. The insanity defense may only work if the accused was legally insane when the act happened. Therapists, doctors, psychiatrists and other medical professionals may testify regarding the mental stability of the accused. With the insanity plea, the accused is admitting that the incident did happen, but they should not be punished for their actions out of being mentally incapable of making sound decisions.
Alibi
The foundation of an alibi defense, is to prove that the accused was not at the scene of the crime when it was committed. As we all know, it is impossible to be in two different places at once. Thus, there is no way the accused could have been at the scene, when there is evidence they were somewhere else instead.
Please contact a law firm right away to meet with a criminal lawyer Baltimore, Maryland trusts, if you have recently been arrested and accused of a crime. They can help you create a strong defense strategy, in hopes that your charges are acquitted or greatly reduced.
Thank you to our friends and contributors at Greenberg Law Offices for their insight into criminal defense cases.