Why would a criminal defendant choose to represent himself rather than have a lawyer?
The Constitution and the Supreme Court have given every accused person in the U.S. the right to be represented by a lawyer. If he can’t afford one, there is a public defender system in every state to provide lawyers.
In over thirty years working …
Many people I talk with assume that if a defense lawyer costs a lot, he can “get anyone off.” Maybe–
Let’s look at some more techniques that defense lawyers use to win in trial beyond what I’ve already posted:
2. Defense lawyers exploit the evidentiary problems of the prosecutor.
Let’s look at a case I tried several years …
I’ve posted about prosecutors and how they might win/lose cases but what about defense lawyers? Do defense lawyers have tricks or are they so good ts “misleading” the jury that they can win all the time?
It’s important to remember that a trial is not about proving innocence. At the end of a trial, the jury is instructed …
Last in a series–
Many people were astonished that Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murdering her child. How could this happen when it appeared to people who followed the trial that she was obviously guilty?
I’ve posted four reasons previously and offer a couple more here:
Reason #5 The prosecutors are incompetent or distracted.
The best …
Last post I started to list the reasons why Casey Anthony may have been found not guilty by a jury. After more than 30 years working as both a prosecutor and defense lawyer, I have seen this happen before in trials.
The first two reasons can be:
1. The prosecutor must prove an accused guilty beyond a reasonable …
People who followed the televised trial of Casey Anthony seemed to be convinced that she was guilty of killing her child–yet the jury, which heard the case, found her Not Guilty.
How could this happen?
In my 30+ years of trying criminal cases, both as a prosecutor and defense lawyer, I can tell you that it’s rare, …
The Minnesota legislature has voted to put a new amendment to the state constitution on the ballot for next fall. It would define marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman and not recognize same-sex marriages.
Even though the state already has a law defining legally recognized marriage, proponents still want the amendment. Why?…
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