Defense Strategies in Richmond Criminal Cases

Building a defense strategy is dependent on getting all the facts from the client. A Richmond criminal lawyer can establish a very good relationship with the client to build an effective defense.

Our client must have the confidence and trust to tell us everything because without knowing all the facts, we can’t really assist our client. We need to review the prosecution’s case to determine how strong it is and research the current case law to determine if it is applicable to our client’s case. We need to know what witnesses or evidence can assist our case.

And then, from all that, we try and find out what issues we may have in defending the case, including but not limited to:

• Issues regarding the Fourth Amendment
• Issues regarding chain of custody
• Issues regarding the witnesses and their trustworthiness

Common Defense Strategies in Richmond Criminal Cases

Defense strategies can vary widely depending on the facts of a particular case and the charges that have been filed. We want to determine how strong a case the Commonwealth or the prosecution has and if they have sufficient evidence to prove their case. This calls for a thorough examination of the case, the facts, and the law. We need to know if they can prove their case and what factual or evidentiary holes we can find in the case.

Then, we need to look at their witnesses and evidence. We will investigate the following:

• Are their witnesses trustworthy and can we challenge their testimony?
• If there is scientific evidence, can we question it to determine if it’s valid or not?
• Is there an issue with chain of custody?
• Is there an issue with how it was obtained?
• Is there a probable cause issue?

And then, what we do is review these issues and try and determine what the best course of action is. Is it a case where we think we have a strong defense or is it a situation where we don’t necessarily have the best defense available and we have to go into, what I would call, “mitigation mode”. This is where we discuss with our client that there’s a likelihood of them getting convicted, but try to determine how to best portray them to get the charges reduced or to get the sentences reduced.

The Advantages of a Richmond Criminal Defense Attorney

You want an attorney in the city of Richmond who will aggressively represent your interests and defend your fights. You want an attorney who’s prepared to ask tough questions of prosecutors, of police, and of witnesses who may be there at trial. You’re going to want someone who’s willing to pursue aggressive defense strategies and certain arguments that other attorneys won’t, and in some cases, pursue some unpopular arguments.

But you’re also going to need someone who can make you a realistic assessment of your case and who can determine the best strategy, whether it is to attack the evidence, pursue other means of mitigation or negotiation with the Commonwealth.