Exercise Your Criminal Trial Rights – A Utah criminal defense attorney shows you how to protect yourself when charged with a crime
Our federal, and your state, constitution promises you certain rights in order to insure you receive a fair trial. Make you sure you understand and exercise them.
The Bill of Rights
Most people assume that if the government charges them with a crime, they will be found guilty and go to jail. A Utah criminal defense attorney may prevent that from happening, starting with your trial rights. Three of your most important rights are the right to:
- confront witnesses;
- a jury trial and jury unanimity;
- a speedy trial;
Confront Witnesses
Our Constitution’s Confrontation Clause guarantees us the ability to look our accusers in the eye. This means that any witnesses against you must show up at your trial and testify against you. It also promises that your Utah criminal defense attorney will have the opportunity to question them.
A good Utah criminal defense attorney will always use this particularly powerful section of the constitution because it prevents “hearsay.” Hearsay is when someone testifies about an event or circumstances that he has no personal knowledge of. For instance, a witness—let’s call him Tom—cannot testify that “My mother told me she saw John at the store.” To be valid, the government would need to call Tom’s mother and ask her exactly what she saw.
Then Tom’s mother would be subject to your cross examination. Your Utah criminal defense attorney can ask: How did she know it was John? How far away was she when she saw John? Does she wear glasses? Did she make eye contact? How long did she see John? Seconds? Etc.
Eye witness testimony is notoriously unreliable and State v. Clopten, the Utah Supreme Court recently acknowledged as much.
Jury Trial and Jury Unanimity
A reliable Utah criminal defense attorney will almost always ask for a jury trial. You are entitled to a jury where you are charged with a crime that may include jail time. Surprisingly, this includes most traffic tickets!
This right is important because a Utah criminal defense attorney understands that if she convinces one person of reasonable doubt as to your guilt, you win. This is because the constitution guarantees jury unanimity.
Jury unanimity means that all of your jurors (in Utah, there are typically 8) must agree that you are guilty of the charged crime. Without total unanimity, you cannot be found guilty.
Speedy Trial
A smart Utah criminal defense attorney knows that speedy trial rights are a double edged sword. No one wants to have charges hanging over their heads for months or even years. But there’s an old saying amongst defense attorneys, “Unlike wine, cases get worse over time.”
Why? Because often people’s memory fade, evidence gets lost, people move, cops retire, victims change their mind, etc. As long as a defendant is free on bail, time only benefits him. Remember, the burden is on the government to prove you did something wrong; you do not have to prove your innocence.
A Utah criminal defense attorney will help you assert your rights and maybe even more importantly, show you when to waive some rights. To have all your questions about constitutional rights answered, contact an attorney.
Questions and Answers
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Law, rules, regulations, and policies are what keep society within limits, and if implemented well, peace and order can be maintained.
A person charged of a criminal case need a knowledgeable, well experienced and an effective defense lawyer to help him on his case. He needs to face trial and he must represented by a defense attorney.
If you need to defend yourself against criminal charges, there are many criminal defense attorneys in Utah who can help you fight for your rights.
Although hiring a criminal lawyer may be costly, most people need to hire lawyers to competently represent them in the court.
If you have been accused of a crime that you are innocent of, what you have to get is the services of a trustworthy criminal attorney.
Television soap operas commonly illustrate the reality of the courtrooms when the innocent are convicted of the crimes they were not guilty of committing while the guilty gets to stroll away free.
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