If you are facing criminal charges, one thing that you and your legal team need to do is to determine your best course of action moving forward. In some cases, this may mean trying to beat the charges. For instance, if you were misidentified by an eyewitness at the scene of a crime, your goal may be clearing your name and showing that you had nothing to do with that criminal activity. You are not guilty and you want to plead that way from the very beginning.
That being said, people sometimes assume that the goal of a criminal case is always to beat those charges. They want to plead not guilty and see if they can avoid a conviction. But there are some cases in which that may not be the best option. It’s wise to carefully consider all potential criminal defense tactics.
Reducing the charges
In some cases, it’s actually best to work at reducing the charges. This is often why people will take a plea deal. They have to admit guilt in order to use the plea deal, but they may get a lesser charge that will reduce the sentence they face. A felony may be reduced to a misdemeanor, for instance, keeping it off of a permanent record.
Another example of this is if someone uses the crime of passion defense. If they were accused of taking another person’s life, they may be charged with murder. But murder requires premeditation and intent. By claiming that they reacted emotionally in the moment and that it was just a crime of passion, they may end up being charged with manslaughter. This could have a more lenient sentence than if they were convicted of murder.
These are just a few examples to show how complex criminal defense cases can be and why it is so important to understand all the options at your disposal.