If you are charged with a criminal offense either in Florida state court or in federal court, you must depend on the skill, experience, and judgment of your criminal defense lawyer. But what is it that your lawyer will be doing during your defense?
This blog post explains some of what an experienced Florida criminal defense attorney does to ensure their client’s rights are protected, to enforce the federal and state Rules of Criminal Procedure, and to ensure they obtain and prepare for every bit of evidence that will be used against them at trial.
At the law firm of Stechschulte Nell in Tampa, every client’s case receives our fullest and sharpest focus. We understand how much you and your family count on us to perform at the very highest level of professionalism and to use every tool available to your advantage. We value and honor your trust in our courtroom skills, both before and during the trial.
Our Investigation of Your Case Facts
Every criminal charge involves “alleged facts.” By the time criminal charges are lodged against a defendant, the government has already conducted much of its investigation. But defending you against the prosecution requires that your attorney’s team conduct its own investigation.
Police investigations tend to look for evidence of guilt. They don’t approach the crime scene or witness interview with a purely neutral mindset. Would you imagine that a police crime scene investigator sees evidence inconsistent with the defendant’s guilt and says, “Let’s bag and tag this piece of evidence; It will help the defense.”
Instead, your defense-led investigation looks for facts, evidence, data, and witness statements that the police overlooked, discounted, or ignored entirely.
Defense Depositions of Witnesses
Under Florida law, when a person is indicted or charged with a felony, their criminal defense attorney can depose witnesses identified by the prosecutor and may file a request for documents. When a defendant decides to participate in the pretrial discovery process, the defense is obliged to reciprocate by notifying the prosecution of the witnesses and evidence it intends to present in its defense case.
The Law of Pretrial Discovery
Modern rules about sharing evidence with the opposing party before a civil or criminal trial were developed to ensure that trials were conducted in an orderly manner without unnecessarily wasting time. Before the law required that the prosecution and defense disclose the evidence they intended to present at trial, the “trial by ambush” was common.
Trial by ambush was the term to describe the surprise use of previously undisclosed evidence during the trial. Neither party knew what the other’s evidence was. This prevented the opposing party from preparing properly to counter the evidence. In time, the courts realized that the party against whom the surprise evidence was used needed additional time to respond fairly to the new evidence. Continuances and delays resulted from this disorderly process.
Eventually, the federal and state governments adopted strict rules enabling criminal defendants to demand that the prosecution disclose all its evidence that was “reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence“
As you might imagine, prosecutors are not always happy about meeting their obligation to turn over not just evidence that they will use in court, but also any material that could “be reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.”
Experienced criminal defense lawyers don’t only file boilerplate requests for discovery. When a fact involves evidence of a particular nature, a good defense lawyer’s demand for discovery includes specific requests describing evidence the defense lawyer believes the prosecution has access to, even if the government does not intend to use the evidence.
When prosecutors either object to turning over evidence or just fail to do so, defense lawyers file motions to compel the government to comply with the discovery law. A vigorous pretrial motion practice is part of every highly competent criminal defense lawyer’s practice.
The Prosecutor’s Obligation to Disclose Exculpatory Evidence (The Brady Rule)
Neither federal nor Florida state prosecutors are legally permitted to keep “exculpatory” evidence from the defense. In Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a defendant’s constitutional right to due process of law is violated when a prosecutor conceals or fails to disclose material evidence relevant to the defendant’s guilt or punishment.i
Exculpatory evidence is any evidence favorable to the defendant regarding their guilt or the degree to which they deserve punishment.
This evidence could be an eyewitness statement describing the guilty person with different physical characteristics than the defendant, crime scene evidence found to have someone else’s DNA, or any evidence that tends to point to another person as the guilty party.
Other later cases expanded the obligation of prosecutors to reveal or even self-serving motives of government informants that may undercut their credibility.ii The law requires the prosecution to reveal information that would be relevant to the defense in cross-examining the prosecution’s witnesses. For example, if a government witness was immunized from being prosecuted for other crimes, the government promised “inducements” to witnesses, like a lighter sentence in exchange for testimony favorable to the government’s case against the defendant.
Criminal Defense Lawyer Dig and Demand Evidence
The job of a criminal defense lawyer is not merely to wait to be given evidence but to seek evidence, including interviewing witnesses, ordering scientific tests, and obtaining expert opinions actively and aggressively. The facts of every case are unique, and experienced criminal defense lawyers design their investigation approach to fit the individual circumstances of each client.
Learn More > What Does Board Certified Mean for an Attorney?
Your Criminal Defense Lawyer Must Have Extensive Trial Experience
Only through years of experience inside the courtroom can a lawyer develop the skills required to provide each client with the best possible defense.
It’s very important to remember that lawyers with the most trial experience are best qualified to know when a case should not go to trial. Assessing all the evidence, both for and against the client, is an absolutely imperative sense your lawyer must possess. Winning acquittals for clients at the end of a trial is a great feeling. But so too is winning a case before a trial. No lawyer wants to expose their client to the uncertainty of a jury if it’s in the client’s best interest to resolve the case pretrial.
Knowing how to gather ALL the evidence and analyze it properly is the mark of the best criminal defense lawyers.
We are ready to defend you. Call Stechschulte Nell Law at 813-280-1244.
