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Chantilly Robbery Lawyer

The consequences of a robbery charge are extremely severe. Robbery is a felony offense, and it often includes some mandatory time in a state prison and other severe consequences. With these things in mind, hiring a Chantilly robbery lawyer with a lot of experience defending robberies can help both in mitigating the damage of the offense and ensuring that your rights are protected.

An experienced lawyer will know what to look for and how to minimize the potential negative impacts on an individual’s life. Even if you are in a situation where it seems like all the evidence is piled up against you, an aggressive and experienced theft lawyer in Chantilly is going to be able to attack what might seem like a bullet proof case against you.

Elements of Robbery

Robbery in Chantilly includes the following elements:

  • The taking of property against the will of the property owner
  • While the property owner is present
  • With the intent to steal the items and to permanently deprive them of their property
  • As well as the added element of violence, threat of harm, or intimidation during the taking of the property

Penalties For a Conviction

The consequences of robbery in Chantilly are going to depend on the specific elements and facts surrounding the robbery that the defendant is alleged to have committed. However, it is important to know that robbery is a felony offense that can carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.  In addition, because it is a felony offense the conviction will carry collateral consequences including the loss of the right to possess a firearm and to vote. This makes it important a Chantilly robbery attorney is contacted as soon as possible.

There are also other factors associated with the case that will alter the severity of the punishment. For example, a carjacking case is going to potentially carry more time than a regular robbery case. If the robbery involves some kind of bodily injury, it will add an aggravating factor that is going to cause more time in prison. Additionally, if it is not your first robbery offense, the defendant will receive a significantly higher prison sentence than if it was just their first offense.

Robbery vs. Theft

Robbery has to have all the elements of a theft offense, but then it is also going to have the additional element of violence or threats of harm or intimidation. Additionally, it has to be a taking from a person, and a theft offense can be either from a person when they are not present or from a person when they are present.

Virginia law is very specific regarding what acts would give the added violence element. It could have been suffocation or threatening with a firearm or a deadly weapon. It could be using a firearm or a deadly weapon. It could be many different things involving either bodily injury or a threat of bodily injury.

Negotiating to a Misdemeanor

A defense attorney might be able to negotiate robbery down to theft charge when it is a situation where either the facts do not support a conviction or the facts might support a conviction of robbery. In a situation when the prosecutor knows that their evidence is good but perhaps not strong enough, they may be willing to make a deal down to a theft offense. Additionally, if this is the defendant’s first time, have never been involved in the situation like this and the facts that are not clearly egregious, in those types of situations the prosecutor might be willing to take the charge out of robbery and bring it down to regular theft.

Proposing a Plea Deal

A Chantilly robbery lawyer might convince a person charged with robbery to take a plea deal in a couple different situations. The first circumstance might be when the evidence is overwhelming against the individual and the sentencing guidelines are going to require a significantly large amount of time in prison.

If an individual cannot stay in a situation where a guilty finding would give them a significant amount of time in prison, it might make sense to take a plea deal for something less. In a situation where somebody is charged with a felony, it might make sense to take a plea deal for a misdemeanor. These are situations where the evidence is overwhelming for the person and it is very likely that if they go to trial, the person will be found guilty.

Likewise, if there are any facts about an individual’s case that are particularly violent or  hard for the average person to swallow, a lawyer might not want to put that case in front of a jury. Sentencing a plea deal might make more sense rather than putting it in front of a jury where a jury is really going to consider these facts and punish the individual by giving them much more time in prison than would be available should the person make a plea deal.

Benefit of an Experienced Lawyer

This offense is very serious which is why an individual looking for a Chantilly robbery lawyer should look for somebody who is extremely aggressive in attacking the facts of the case but who also pays attention to detail. Robberies can be extremely complicated cases and a lot can depend on whether or not the prosecutor is pleading the definition of robbery under the statute and whether the prosecutor can prove all the elements beyond a reasonable doubt. Proving these elements depends on the facts of the case, so the prosecutor may not be able to meet the statute, but little things like DNA evidence, fingerprint evidence, and eyewitness testimony may be able to prove it. To ensure you have a strong defense, consult with a Chantilly theft lawyer today.

A robbery lawyer will work to convince the jury or judge that just because there is evidence, it does not mean that there is enough to prove every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. If the prosecution cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, they cannot convict you.  A local defense attorney is going to be able to leverage what they know, not only about the law but about how the prosecutor and judge works, and be able to use that to your advantage and use that to find the cracks in their prosecution.

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