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Prosecutors In Newport News Criminal Cases

Newport News courts are very serious in terms of how they treat criminal charges. It’s one of the courts in this area that’s notorious for being hard on charges in general. If you want to learn more about the court processes, contact a criminal defense attorney in Newport News for your case.

Newport News prosecutors, along with most prosecutors in Hampton Roads, have been cracking down recently on DUIs. Newport News courts treat DUIs very seriously and don’t offer much in terms of leniency to anyone charged with a DUI. Because DUIs have become so common, police officers and prosecutors are doing as much as they can to make sure that drivers charged don’t get off without a fight. Their goal is to make sure that the roads are safe so police officers routinely have checkpoints set up and the prosecutors take a very firm stance with DUIs.

What Does The Newport News Prosecution Have To Prove In Court?

The prosecution has the burden of proof in cases, which means that it is up to them to prove that the defendant is guilty of a charge against them. The prosecution therefore must prove that each element of the crime in question is met. Elements are requirements that must be met for someone’s actions to constitute a crime. The person’s guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

For example, if the charge is driving on a suspended license, the elements are first that the driver had a suspended license, second that the driver drove while having a suspended license, and three that the driver knew that the license was suspended.

The elements of the charge must all be met and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Reasonable doubt is not near possible doubt. After all the evidence has been carefully considered there must be an abiding conviction to a moral certainly of the truth of the charge. Therefore, sometimes the defense can beat the charges by casting doubts on the evidence rather than proving that the entire offense didn’t happen. All you really need to do is cast doubt on one of the elements because then if the three elements for that crime for example aren’t met, then the driver can’t be convicted of driving on a suspended license.

In order for you to be convicted, every element has to be proven.

How Does The Newport News Prosecution Go About Proving Their Case?

The prosecution really does absolutely everything they can to prove their case before trial with their investigators and witnesses and during the trial with the evidence that they’ve collected being presented. The proof comes in a variety of forms which the Commonwealth presents in the trial. Many times testimony is the most convincing evidence the prosecutor can put on such as in cases when there just isn’t really much to it to tie the people involved.

Other evidence could be in the form of expert testimony which is a little bit different from a lay person’s testimony because experts are allowed to give their opinion based on their field of expertise, whereas lay people cannot testify as to their personal opinion about anything, they can only testify about facts. The prosecutor also uses pictures, phone records, or really any document to help their case. The type of evidence available is always going to vary greatly from case to case as different cases have different elements that need to be met.

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