Stafford County Robbery Defense Strategies

The first thing that a Stafford County robbery defense lawyer may do in employing a strategy of defense is examine the facts of your case according to what the government is alleging they can prove. Once the attorney has learned what the facts of the case are according to the government, they need to figure out what the facts of the case are according to you. They may try to determine what, if any, factual inconsistencies exist between your version of the events and the government’s version of the events.

If it turns out that there are factual inconsistencies, they need to fully flush those out by the use of an investigator or by subpoenaing evidence that they would not otherwise be able to get without a subpoena. The first step in any robbery defense strategy in Stafford County is a fact-based inquiry that requires learning every aspect of the case from every available perspective. Once that has been lined up, an experienced attorney can begin researching how the law impacts those facts as they know them to be and move forward with your best available defense.

Compiling Evidence

Evidence gathered in a Stafford County investigation depends on what the available defense strategies for the person accused of robbery might be. For example, if the defendant is suggesting they were not located where the robbery is alleged to have taken place and did not participate in a robbery at all, there is an available case of mistaken identification. Perhaps the lawyer might look for evidence that involves an alibi of some kind to make the claim that the defendant was at another location at the time the robbery supposedly took place.

If the attorney can prove the alibi, it would be positive for the defense. Other types of evidence might include eyewitness testimony from those who could contradict the identification of the defendant, suggesting perhaps that it might have been someone else. Additionally, an attorney might need to explore fingerprint evidence from the scene of the crime.

There are many different kinds of evidence that could be available in a robbery defense in Stafford County and like with every case, the available defenses will determine the strategy.

Considering Plea Deals

It is a good idea to consider the possibility of incorporating a plea of guilty in a negotiation for a softer sentence when it becomes clear that the evidence against the client is overwhelming enough for a trial. If lawyers get to a situation where there is no chance of success at trial and the defendant chooses to press forward with the trial anyway, it is almost a certainty that the person will receive a harsher sentence and one which cannot be negotiated with the government in advance of a trial.

Juries typically recommend sentences in Virginia courts and they punish much more severely than judges. In the case of a robbery charge, a jury will recommend a sentence of between five years to life. If, however, the person pleads guilty and has a judge determine their sentence, it is almost a certainty they will get less time than they would have otherwise gotten from a jury handing down the sentence.

Under certain circumstances, with a robbery charge, a plea deal might be a considerably better option than facing uncertainty at trial.

Help From a Local Attorney

Every jurisdiction has its own set of policies and procedures that it employs when prosecuting criminal charges. Every jurisdiction has a prosecutor’s office and a bench that is unique to that jurisdiction. As such, it is important and useful to have an attorney on your side who knows all of the judges and prosecutors and knows the general processes and procedures used in the specific court where you are being tried.

If you have an attorney who is not familiar with all of the process, they will not be able to serve you as well as a local attorney who has the experience and the knowledge base of their local jurisdiction to work the best deals possible for you or create the best possible outcomes at trial with the best defense strategies for your particular case.