A criminal lawyer is a person who defends an individual in a court of law who is charged with criminal activity, which can be a felony or misdemeanor. If convicted, you could pay a fine, serve years in prison, do community work, or get a death sentence. The role of a criminal defense lawyer is to help you get acquitted or get a minimal possible sentence. And here are 4 most common defenses that require the assistance of a criminal defense lawyer.
Affirmative Crime
A criminal defense lawyer can try to reduce the prosecution’s evidence by showing that it is true. In such a case, the lawyer and the client offer evidence in their support. For instance, if you are charged with first-degree murder (you planned for the murder before it happened), your defense lawyer may decide to introduce an alibi witness. This is a person who will testify that you did not commit the crime. This gives you an alibi for the time the crime was allegedly committed.
Insanity Defense
This type of defense became popular because of television shows and movies. However, this form of defense is rarely used because it is not often successful. The defense means that you did not commit the crime when in a normal state of mind. Thus, you committed the crime when you thought it is not wrong. For this defense to help, you ought to be a serious defect or suffering from a mental illness at the time of doing the crime. It is quite risky to rely on this particular defense as you will be admitting to the crime.
Duress or Coercion
This means that you were forced to commit the offense because of being threatened with the unlawful force. It is not a must the force happens. In fact, a threat is adequate to satisfy this particular form of defense. This threat does not have to be directed at you. Instead, it can be directed to a family member.
General Crime
One of them is self-defense. This means that your actions your actions can be considered criminal if you were not defending yourself. Another general defense is the status of limitations. In this case, the criminal defense lawyer argues that the time required for you to be charged with the case has elapsed and the charges ought to be dropped. Lastly, consent is another criminal defense. This means that you agree that you committed the act but your victim consented to it.
