Building a Virginia Beach Robbery Defense
When building a Virginia Beach robbery defense, an experienced robbery lawyer will help prepare their client. An attorney looks over the details of the case. They investigate where the client was at the time of the crime and who they were with. The prosecutor is going to try to poke holes in the alibi and show inconsistencies that could make a jury or a judge believe that an individual is lying.
If the defendant lacks an alibi then it is important to make their testimony be as concise as possible and eliminate any inconsistencies before taking the stand. Judges tend to appreciate documents, paperwork, forensic evidence and hard evidence more than they do eye witness testimony. Eyewitnesses are volatile whereas science is fact-based. Attorneys use documents and physical evidence to sway the jury. They can use props, visual aids, and photos, that strongly suggest a client was elsewhere. To build a strong defense, it is important for attorneys to be contacted early on.
Refuting Evidence in Court
Attorneys look for contradictions in testimony, instances where a witness cannot clearly remember what happened, where there is a possibility that the witness is lying. Then there is physical evidence. An attorney addresses how that physical evidence connects back to the client. Perhaps there is the possibility that it points to someone else or that it does not point to their client.
Attorneys can utilize an expert in the field, for example, if the case involves fingerprints or DNA, to refute the evidence and try to exonerate their client. Experts are often used for DNA, fingerprints, blood analysis and anything else that would require a scientific explanation. Both sides can bring in experts to give testimony and an opinion.
Being Deposed
Depositions are for civil trials, not usually for criminal trials. In criminal cases, the defendant takes the stand in court to give testimony. An attorney reviews how the client should present themselves, how to speak, and certain words to use. In a jury trial, the defendant is going to be judged by the words used the attorney will want to make sure the client speaks properly and makes a good showing.
Addressing Forensic Evidence
It is important to scrutinize the evidence when building a Virginia Beach robbery defense. Especially with DNA evidence, it can be difficult to refute, however, there are opportunities to create uncertainty by merely suggesting there is a likelihood it could belong to someone else.
Another common type of evidence is footprints, where prosecutors will compare imprints from the crime scene to an individual’s shoe. They might say that any imprints found are similar the individual’s shoes. If the client is wearing a common shoe an attorney can argue that both the shoes and the markings are similar.
Role of Eyewitness Testimony
Eyewitness testimony is very common but also can be unreliable and most experts will tell attest to that. An attorney will question the certainty of the testimony by asking how certain they are of their version of events.
Memories will change. They usually get worse over time and there is almost always some variation between stories. People tend to not repeat the same version of events over and over. Sometimes, those differences are slight and a judge or jury is not going to think much of it. Other times, there can be significant discrepancies that might give them cause.
Building a Virginia Beach robbery defense often involves attorneys looking for inconsistencies bring them up before the court. It is important to note if a witness has ever seen the client before the incident, if they are familiar with this person and what makes them so certain.
Impact of Constitutional Issues
Search and seizures issues carry significant weight in Virginia courts. Whether or not police have cause to search probably carries the most weight because that is when you start getting into invasion of privacy, those are things that courts do take seriously. There are rules for what police can and cannot do. There is often Fourth Amendment issues where especially with DNA tests or DNA swabs or searches of the defendant. The accused can argue the police may not have had the right to conduct those searches.
Another issue would be Fifth Amendment in terms of the questioning before police issue Miranda warnings for the right to an attorney. If the accused requests a lawyer and they are questioned without one, that may be an issue. Knowing these rights and exercising them may be useful when building a Virginia Beach robbery defense.
Depending on what may or may not have been done incorrectly, evidence can be suppressed. If the police obtained the evidence they should not have, and they cannot prove that they would have attained it anyway, then that evidence cannot be used at trial.