Understanding the Different Types of Criminal Defense Strategies

A criminal defense is vital to guarantee that the accused only receives as much punishment as they deserve. A well-orchestrated criminal defense can poke holes in the prosecutor’s case or even convince the judge to mitigate the sentence.

Criminal lawyers rely on honest, truthful communication from their clients to form the best possible strategy for a successful defense. Generally, this information is protected by attorney-client privilege.

Statute of Limitations

Many states have laws requiring that criminal cases be brought within certain time frames. These statutes of limitations vary from state to state and also depend on the type of case. The idea is that people only have a limited window to bring legal action and, after a certain period of time, evidence can disappear or witnesses’ memories can become foggy. More serious crimes, such as murder, usually have longer statutes of limitations than civil matters.

Legal counsel can help you understand how these rules apply to your case. They can explain whether the statute of limitations has expired and, if not, can provide guidance on how it can be tolled or suspended. Also, your attorney can review the facts of your case to determine if there were any constitutional violations by law enforcement during the investigation and arrest. This could result in suppression of evidence or dismissal of the charges against you. This is called a Fourth Amendment violation.

Entrapment

In this type of defense, you can argue that law enforcement officers induced you to commit a crime that you would not have otherwise committed. This can involve using threats, coercion, fraud, flattery or flirtation, and even raising the stakes of a criminal transaction (e.g., elevating the calculated loss amount to a higher level that could trigger greater punishment).

For example, let’s say you own a storefront with a security fence and a lock on your door. But the police set up a sting operation by pretending to be criminals and alerting you of a warehouse shipment with a lot of expensive merchandise. If you take the merchandise, you can use the entrapment argument as a criminal defense.

In deciding whether to accept this argument, courts use both an objective and subjective standard. The subjective test focuses on your lack of predisposition to engage in the criminal conduct, while the objective standard focuses on law enforcement officers’ inappropriate inducement and encouragement of the defendant.

Insanity

The insanity defense is a controversial one. It’s not used often, but it is not completely disallowed by law. The definition of insanity differs between jurisdictions, and psychiatric evidence is usually involved. It is not the same as having a nervous breakdown or having hallucinations, and it does not include a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

A few states and the federal courts follow the Durham Rule, which requires that a defendant did not know the nature or quality of the criminal act he committed or that it was wrong because of a mental defect or disease. Many more use the M’Naghten rule, which requires that a defendant did not have the capacity to distinguish right from wrong because of a mental illness or defect. Learn more on strafverteidigung münchen now!

Under either version of the defense, it is up to a defendant to prove his or her insanity by clear and convincing evidence. This is a much higher burden of proof than the preponderance of the evidence required for other criminal defenses. Studies show that the “not guilty by reason of insanity” is raised in fewer than 1% of felony cases and is successful in only a small fraction of them.

Self-Defense

Self-defense is a defense against criminal charges when you are accused of inflicting injury or death on another person because you genuinely believed it was necessary to protect yourself from an imminent threat of serious harm. To qualify for a self-defense claim, you must prove that: (1) you feared an immediate threat of bodily harm; (2) your fear was reasonable; (3) the use of force is justified; and (4) your use of force was proportionate to the perceived danger.

The rules and limitations on self-defense vary from state to state, but there are a few general principles that should apply. For example, to qualify for a self-defense claim, the immediate threat of harm must be real and unavoidable and you must believe that the attacker is about to cause injury or death. For example, if you hear footsteps outside your bedroom door in the middle of the night and fire through it without knowing who is on the other side, that would likely be considered unreasonable self-defense.