Law

Different Aspects of Criminal Defenses

When a defendant undergoes trial after a charge of criminal offense is brought against the person, a prosecutor is obliged to prove that the defendant committed the crime. The criminal defendant has the right to present a defense through a variety of ways but should have a criminal attorney lawyer for representation in the court. A Galveston criminal attorney may help a defendant to avoid a sentence for their actions.

Significance of Criminal Actions

A criminal defendant has several categories available. One of these is, the defendant may argue that the crime was perpetrated by someone else. The defendant may also argue that he/she did not know his/her action could be called a crime. The defense of insanity is argued at the most severe form of defending an alleged offender. In that case, the defendant has to establish that he/she had a mental disorder that prevented him/her from resisting violent impulses or made it impossible for him/her to make differences between right and wrong.

The defense of insanity in some states lets a defendant avoid imprisonment but requires proper treatment for the defendant in a psychiatric facility.

The defense of intoxication rests on the argument that the person fails to meet all the criteria of the crime because it was beyond his/her understanding of what he/she was committing. If the person is intoxicated without his/her being aware of it, it can be produced as a defense in both common and particular category of crimes, based on the theory that intoxication prevented the defendant from realizing right and wrong. Therefore, voluntary intoxication is a strong defense in specific criminal cases if the defendant raises an argument that his/her intoxication resisted him/her from forming the necessary for such a crime.

A Galveston criminal attorney is the most knowledgeable and capable person to argue a mistake of fact. As per the defense, the defendant committed a fundamental mistake that contradicts an element of the perpetrated crime. For example, if a charge of larceny is brought against a person, the defendant may put forward an argument by claiming that he/she believed it by mistake that the plaintiff had given the property to him/her. In the same way, the mistake of law is also applicable if a criminal defendant believed he/she did not go against the law while taking the action.

Justification of Actions

Another category of defenses is applicable when the defendant justifies his/her crime. Self-defense, as well as the defense of others, is the most commonly recognized aspect of these defenses. For example, a defendant may claim that he perpetrated a crime by attacking an intruder but only in self-defense.

Under the defense of duress, the defendant may argue that he/he committed the crime just because someone else forced him/her to do so. Under the necessity of defense, the defendant’s lawyer may argue that his client committed the crime to avoid more harm.

No Crime Took Place

Lastly, the criminal lawyer representing the defendant may put a small set of defenses for an argument that though a crime appears to have occurred, the crime was not committed by the defendant.