People contact criminal defence lawyers when they feel like their lives might be on the line. And competent criminal defence lawyers will do everything in their power to make sure that their client is exonerated and gets the best sentence they can. However, in some cases, a criminal clients end up making crucial mistakes that could make any effort useless and undermine their case, even appearing guilty without them knowing it. Here are some of the mistakes that could actually end up ruining your Toronto criminal case.
Withholding Information from or Lying to Your Lawyer
Contrary to what many may think, most criminal defence lawyers don’t go out trying to prove their client’s innocence of a crime. What they do is try to cast as much doubt on the prosecution’s case as possible. Their main goal will be to deconstruct the prosecution’s case and look at ways to discredit it. That’s because it’s the prosecution’s role to prove its case beyond a shadow of doubt under the presumption of innocence from a crime.
The only way your Toronto criminal lawyer can do this is if they have all the information they need about the case. That not only includes what was found through the prosecution’s discovery but any other information they could get their hands on. Sometimes, you as a defendant will have crucial information on witnesses, events, and locations which could help cast doubt on certain claims in regards to the crime. It’s also important that you don’t lie about any aspect of the case. This will undermine any kind of defence strategy or theory since it will be founded on falsehoods.
Not Working with the Proper Lawyer
You should make sure that you work with a Toronto criminal lawyer who’s actually willing to fight for your case. Too many criminal defence lawyers market themselves as trial lawyers but will switch as soon as a deal is offered.
A lawyer like David Cohn, however, has years of experience as a Toronto criminal lawyer and has a solid track record of defending his clients in court and getting results. This is the kind of lawyer you should be working with. Make sure that you do a background check on any lawyer and see how many cases they actually take to trial versus deals.
Getting Chatty on Social Media
You should not, under any circumstances, ever disclose any facts about the case to anyone but your lawyer. For some reason, a lot of defendants think that going on social media and declaring their innocence will do something for their case that a lawyer would. But doing so can only backfire. This can never count as evidence for you but can easily be used against you. You could end up contradicting yourself trying to discredit the other side or even start revealing part of your lawyer trial strategy. So, keep things hush and never let any communication slip out of your lawyer’s office.
Conclusion
A criminal defence trial can be life-changing, and it’s important that you play your cards right with the right Toronto criminal defense lawyer if you want to be able to win your case.
