In Virginia, a criminal lawyer could begin building a Fairfax robbery defense in a number of different ways. Some lawyers negotiate with the prosecution in order to secure better deals for the defendant. They might also have the defendant do community service or seek help for substance abuse issues if that is relevant to the case. While the person is doing these mitigation techniques, the lawyer can work on building the best possible defense case and poking holes in the prosecution’s case.
They do this by asking for video, sending out investigators, talking to witnesses involved, and moving forward with the case by anticipating what the prosecutor is going to present and trying to poke holes in that evidence. A lot of times in robbery cases, witness identification is an issue. Sometimes even putting the individual at the scene of the crime is something that a lawyer can fight. If a person has been charged with a robbery offense, they should seek the services of a qualified robbery lawyer that could pursue a positive outcome for them.
In robbery cases, it is extremely helpful for a defense attorney to get statements from witnesses as soon as possible. If the alleged victim picks someone out of a lineup, it might be important to question how was that lineup conducted and who conducted it. The attorney might also question how the pictures were chosen and how individuals gathered for the lineup. All these things are elements of identification in a robbery case.
One of the other things that a defense attorney can do when building a Fairfax robbery defense is speak with an expert that could testify on the defendant’s behalf. The lawyer could identify experts who could talk about problems with identification, patterns in the identification, or mistakes that witnesses made and how unreliable identification evidence could be helpful in a case. Those experts need to be secured sooner rather than later and can make quite a difference in a case.
The type of evidence that a criminal lawyer might compile when defending a person charged with robbery could include things like eye-witness testimony, fingerprint or DNA evidence, and any type of weapon or object left behind. Sometimes there is DNA evidence collected that could either help exonerate or point the guilt at somebody other than the defendant or that one can challenge by saying that it is unreliable, obtained in an improper fashion, and should be suppressed and not used against the client.
Eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable and their statements might change. Getting a statement from an eyewitness soon after the incident and getting a statement later on often produces different results. Attorneys need to look into the conditions under which eyewitnesses made the identification. Additionally, there is often some type of surveillance like videos and pictures. These days with so many cell phones around, people are often taking cellphone pictures. This can provide valuable footage to either show the whole picture or to help confirm or dispel identity.
A person should consider hiring a local criminal lawyer when building a Fairfax robbery defense because they need somebody who is going to know the jurisdiction that they are in. A person is going to need somebody who knows the judges, knows the prosecutors, and more importantly, knows the jury. Within each region of Virginia, there are different people. In some areas, they are likely to be much harsher on robbery punishments and use the full range of punishment in their decision. In other jurisdictions, they might be a little more understanding and give more of the minimum amount. A person has to be careful because where the attorney might recommend that they take something to trial, the risk might be too great in certain jurisdictions for an extremely high sentence in front of a jury. If an individual has been charged with robbery, they should consult a skilled robbery defense attorney that could build a solid case for them.