It’s interesting hearing about your background. One of my approaches when I negotiate cases with prosecutors is that I openly admit the strengths of the government’s case. I’ve recently had a factually innocent client who was charged as an accessory to burglary, but it seemed obvious to me she had no idea what the other people were up to. When I talked to the prosecutor, I fully acknowledged “This aspect does indeed look bad for my client, but...” and I’ve always wondered whether this approach has any effect. In this particular instance I did get the case dismissed (and many others like it), but I’m curious if it’s a lesson I can continue extrapolating.
Yeah openly admitting that I have a strong case is good for credibility building. One of the most annoying things is when defense attorneys ask,
“Why is Alice is getting a sweetheart plea deal and Bob is getting jail time when they both committed the same crime and both have minimal criminal history???”
“Uh, Alice’s case is almost purely circumstantial while Bob is caught on camera, that’s the difference.”
“But they both did the same bad thing!”
“Do you understand how plea deals work?”
“[Some nonsense showing that the defense attorney indeed doesn’t know how plea deals work]”
It’s interesting hearing about your background. One of my approaches when I negotiate cases with prosecutors is that I openly admit the strengths of the government’s case. I’ve recently had a factually innocent client who was charged as an accessory to burglary, but it seemed obvious to me she had no idea what the other people were up to. When I talked to the prosecutor, I fully acknowledged “This aspect does indeed look bad for my client, but...” and I’ve always wondered whether this approach has any effect. In this particular instance I did get the case dismissed (and many others like it), but I’m curious if it’s a lesson I can continue extrapolating.
Yeah openly admitting that I have a strong case is good for credibility building. One of the most annoying things is when defense attorneys ask,
“Why is Alice is getting a sweetheart plea deal and Bob is getting jail time when they both committed the same crime and both have minimal criminal history???”
“Uh, Alice’s case is almost purely circumstantial while Bob is caught on camera, that’s the difference.”
“But they both did the same bad thing!”
“Do you understand how plea deals work?”
“[Some nonsense showing that the defense attorney indeed doesn’t know how plea deals work]”