After being charged with a criminal offense, you’ll have to find a way to confront the evidence presented by the prosecution. One option is to simply enter a plea deal where you agree to plead guilty in exchange for lighter penalties. But don’t be so quick to jump on this option. To create the best criminal defense possible under your circumstances, you need to fully assess the circumstances of your case to determine where prosecutorial weaknesses lie and how you can exploit them to your advantage.
One option that may be at your disposal is evidence suppression. Here, you demonstrate to the court how evidence was illegally obtained or otherwise compromised and argue why allowing it to be presented against you is fundamentally unfair. If you can block key pieces of evidence from being used against you in your case, then you exponentially increase your chances of seeing your charges dismissed, obtaining an acquittal at trial, or worst-case scenario receiving a much more favorable plea deal.
When can you suppress the prosecution’s evidence?
There are several circumstances that can give rise to evidence suppression. As you work to build your criminal defense, be sure to look for the following situations that could warrant a motion to suppress:
- An illegal traffic stop: The police can’t just stop you whenever they want. They have to have reasonable suspicion that you’ve committed a crime or a traffic violation. If they lack that level of suspicion when they stop you, such as when they rely on a hunch, then you’ve been illegally stopped. Any action taken by the police from that point moving forward will be considered tainted by that illegality, including a search of your vehicle and the seizure of incriminating evidence.
- A failure to read you your rights: When you’re in police custody being subjected to questioning, the investigators are required to advise you of your Miranda These include your right to remain silent and the right to have an attorney present. If the police don’t advise you of these rights and then secure a confession from you, that confession has been illegally obtained. You’ll thereafter be in a strong position to have that confession blocked from being used against you.
- Evidence collection errors: The police have to collect, transport, and store evidence in a way that doesn’t compromise its integrity. Yet, mistakes are made all the time here, which you might be able to use to show that the evidence isn’t what the prosecution purports it to be. If you’re successful here, then you might be able to block that evidence from being used against you.
- Warrant and warrant exception errors: Sometimes the police mislead a judge to obtain a search warrant. And even when a valid warrant is secured, sometimes the police go beyond the scope of that warrant when conducting a search. When police officers rely on an exception to the warrant requirement, they sometimes misapply it in violation of your Constitutional rights. If you suspect that any of these issues are in play in your case, then you need to raise them so that you can try to suppress any seized evidence that the prosecution intends to use against you.
Don’t allow the prosecution to secure a conviction on faulty evidence
You have strong rights as a criminal defendant. But those rights will only protect you if you choose to act on them. That’s why developing a strong criminal defense is crucial. If you haphazardly approach your case, then you’re bound to miss something that could make all the difference in your defense. So, if you’re ready to build the aggressive criminal defense you want and need, then now is the time to start developing your legal strategy.