Unlawful wounding is a very serious charge. It is an aggravated assault and battery with serious injuries. If someone is stabbed or hit until they are knocked out or unconscious or severely wounded in any way, you can believe it will be an extremely serious allegation and it will be taken very seriously in Arlington. An Arlington malicious wounding lawyer can work with you to minimize the harm. Consult with an assault lawyer in Arlington today.
The first step is to contact an attorney to help guide you through the process. Once you’ve retained an attorney they will have your best interest in mind and will advise you to put you in the best position to either win at trial or negotiate a favorable plea deal.
Another thing you should do is to avoid any and all conversations about the incident with anyone other than your attorney. It is human nature to try to reach out to the other person involved in the incident, but everything you say or do to them can be used against you at trial.
The last thing you should do is try to retain any evidence you have of the incident and to provide any and all favorable witnesses, evidence or information to your attorney. Once again, an attorney will begin putting forth the best case for you-so I’d advise working with them and providing them with any evidence that can help your case.
There are almost always mitigating factors and defenses for any case, and these types of cases are no different.
Once again, self-defense is a frequent defense that used successfully to defend against these charges. And what’s interesting in Virginia is that a victim’s prior instances of violent conduct can be used to help bolster a self-defense claim, whether the defendant it knew of the behavior at the time of the assault or not.
The victim’s intoxication at the time can be used to mitigate the offense.
Showing that the defendant was pushed to these actions by the victim’s conduct and had no other option can be a mitigating factor.
Showing that the defendant does not have a reputation for violent behavior can also help to defend or at least mitigate the charges.
So there are definitely mitigating factors an Arlington malicious wounding attorney can bring forth to put the defendant in the best light possible.
An Arlington malicious wounding attorney can help in numerous ways. They know what the prosecution is trying to prove and how they want to prove it. So with that in mind, they can advise their clients on the appropriate course of conduct while the investigation and case are pending.
Attorneys can also interview witnesses, review the Commonwealth’s file, subpoena evidence of their own.
Everything an attorney does, they do with the eye to either win a trial or minimize a defendant’s potential punishment. They offer a long-term vision to try to get their client the best outcome.