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Criminal Defense Attorneys and Court Appointed Attorneys: Who to Hire?

December 23, 2011 By Maricopa County Court Leave a Comment

Quite frankly the top criminal defense attorneys and court appointed attorneys are the ones that win the most cases and get the most satisfying results for their clients. Court appointed attorneys do not publish their case results so their success in court is obscure. You should choose a criminal defense attorney that gets the best case results for their clients, not an attorney that gets the highest opinion or recommendation of a judge or other attorneys. The opinions of judges or other attorneys can always be swayed by personal meetings and relationships. It makes complete logical sense to choose a criminal defense attorney that wins the most cases or gets the best results for their clients in the same way that a top boxer or athlete is the one that wins the most.

Many articles have been written on choosing between hiring a criminal defense attorney and getting a free court appointed attorney. A misconception is that a court appointed attorney will fiercely fight for you and give effective counsel. Court appointed attorneys have heavy case loads and very limited time to work on your case. The limited time they have to work on your case will affect the success or failure of your case results and ultimately your life.

A private criminal defense attorney that works on a team of criminal lawyers and experts that communicate thoroughly with you and have the resources and time dedicated to your case is going to maximize the potential of a good outcome. Providing you with the best legal counsel to win your case is the responsibility and probably the intention of every criminal defense attorney, whether public or not. However, governmental budget restraints and an overloaded judicial criminal court system is the reality that a public defender and defendants that choose them must accept.

If you decide to get a court appointed attorney you are also taking a risk because that particular one may not specialize in the type of criminal law that you have been charged with or have meager or no experience at all. Court appointed attorneys that have insufficient experience defending criminal cases are not likely to have a comprehensive understanding of the rules of evidence, especially if they have no experience with the criminal charges you are facing. Attorneys deficient in experience will also have difficulty identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your case, trying your case in the court room, and will also have little credibility negotiating a good deal for you.

There are also court appointed attorneys and law students who have no experience at all and that is why they’re working in the public defenders’ office; to gain experience. As you can expect this is the worst possible scenario as law schools are not what the real world is like, and the criminal law courtroom is extremely different than a classroom. A court appointed attorney may be a law student or brand new attorney standing up in court for the very first time. He may be more scared than you are and be intimidated by a prosecutor with years of experience in criminal law, the courtroom, with trials and plea bargains. This is not the situation that you want to find yourself in when you’re life and liberty is on the line.

A criminal defense attorney having experience in criminal law and the criminal charges that you are facing is extremely valuable when deciding on whether or not your case goes to trial and plea bargaining. A criminal defense attorney that has thoroughly reviewed your case with other criminal lawyers and experts in the field will pool their experiences and expertise giving you the advantage of a very knowledgeable criminal defense team fighting for you. A good criminal defense attorney will also have your case investigated by experts to assure that he or she is making the appropriate decision on whether or not your case has enough probable and sufficient evidence to seek the advantages of going to trial or the alternative decision to take a plea bargain. Either way knowing your case from the inside out and all possible scenarios will enable your attorney to effectively represent you in criminal court and get you the best case results.

You may get very lucky with a court appointed attorney with a light work load, but chances of this happening are not likely. Problems of low salaries and excessive case loads commonly plague many state public defenders’ offices. Some court appointed attorneys juggle over two hundred cases. In Los Angeles County it is very common to have one public defense attorney handle over 300 cases, which is well over the maximum caseload size of one hundred recommended by the American Bar Association for a full-time practicing attorney. Even the most well-intentioned and passionate court appointed attorney may be overwhelmed and jeopardize their client’s constitutional right to effective counsel.

Gambling your life on an already overburdened criminal court system could land you in jail with heavy fines and few answers. You may even find yourself with a severely jeopardized future or no future at all. You owe it to yourself to retain a criminal defense attorney that is meticulously dedicated in representing you so that you may go on living your life.

An expert on criminal defense from LibertyBellLaw.com wrote this article. Read about our criminal defense attorneys, their case results, recent case wins in the news, and our criminal law areas of distinction.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Linda_E._Garcia
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The Best Criminal Defense Blog Posts For December

December 22, 2009 By admin

Since the “best of the month” blog post at my DUI blog has received a lot of positive feedback, I thought I should do the same here. I have searched far and wide and these are the best criminal defense blog posts that I have found in December.

Will video kill our access to the courts? – A very good observation and opinion regarding the slow eroding of a person’s constitutional rights.
What is scientific testimony? – A great post that argues that we shouldn’t just use the scientific method when we want to, or when it is convenient.
2,383 and Counting: Felonies have come a long way, baby – This post looks at the growth in the number of crimes becoming felonies.
Lizards Don’t Laugh – O.K. it was written on November 30, not in December. However, I just started this best of the month list, and his post is really good.
The Arizona Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers Is Here For You, Somewhere - You should also read his follow up post, “Going to The Maricopa County Lawyers Rally Today? These posts essentially critique the response of the Arizona legal community to County Attorney and Sheriff controversies; and the author’s criticism is exactly why they are here.

If you think I left out a deserving author, please let me know.

Thanks,

Lawrence

Filed Under: Criminal Court Tagged With: arizona courts, arizona criminal, arizona laws, arizona legal, arizona statutes, arizona superior courts, az criminal, Criminal Defense Attorney, maricopa county attorney, maricopa criminal, phoenix criminal attorney, scottsdale criminal attorney

A Criminal Defense Attorney Can Make Or Break Your Case

May 18, 2009 By Maricopa County Court Leave a Comment

By Aaron Clever -

In the legal world, an accusation of sexual assault or molestation is one that is handled with scrutiny and is not taken lightly. A child or adult witness, a psychological examination, a sexual assessment, and exposure to a grueling cross-examination are just a few of the things one can look forward to when accused of sexual crimes. With jail sentences having become extremely lengthy and laws being more rigid in the last few years, it is even more important than ever before to have an experienced criminal defense attorney on your side.

If you’ve been accused of sexual assault or molestation, you can expect a difficult journey ahead of you. This is not to say that you will come out of it, and will be stronger for having done so, but it will be one of the hardest situations you have ever found yourself in. If you are guilty of the crime, it is best to be straightforward and truthful with your attorney right away. Be careful not to admit your guilt to anyone else but your defense attorney. They can guide you, and the court system, in the right direction to assist you with the fairest outcome. If you are innocent of the crime you’ve been accused of, be prepared for a trial where your accuser will most likely take the stand. Your experienced criminal defense attorney will know exactly how to steer the conversation to your advantage while preserving your dignity.

As far as the medical community, you can expect doctors, psychologists, and other health care professionals to be a part of the trial process. The accuser will have been examined by a hospital of private practice physician and their lawyer(s) will be presenting the information from that exam in court. If your accuser has visited a psychologist, then that information gathered will also be offered at trial as well. As part of your defense, your criminal defense attorney may set up several mental and/or medical exams for your benefit. These may include sexual assessments to disprove your status as a sexual predator as well as a psychological evaluation by an expert in the area of interviewing persons accused of sexual crimes. These exams can offer proof of your innocence and help sway the jury towards finding you not guilty.

Some specific areas of expertise you will want to look for in an attorney who can properly defend you include experience (for years) with these types of sensitive cases, knowledge of new laws that apply and how to properly navigate them in court, and how to present a good argument against an accuser. First, choose a lawyer who has already handled many hundreds of cases of this type. You can verify this information from their state bar association’s office. Next, they should have a clear and thorough knowledge of the current laws as well as past cases like yours and what their results were in trial. This helps your attorney to present both current and verifiably defendable information to the jury and judge to help you in your case. Finally, you’ll be best helped by a lawyer who knows that child accusers can be unreliable because they can be persuaded into admitting things, as well as accuse people of crimes, that never occurred.

To speak with an excellent criminal defense attorney who has years of experience defending clients accused of sexual assault or molestation, contact Nimmo Law Group in San Diego, CA.

For more tips and information about California Criminal Defense, please check: http://www.squidoo.com/sandiegocriminaldefense.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Aaron_Clever

Filed Under: About Attorneys, Criminal Court Tagged With: criminal case, Criminal Defense Attorney