Wyoming Guide: How a Criminal Defense Attorney Can Help

If you have been charged with a crime, you are essentially entering a foreign world that you know little about.

An experienced criminal defense attorney will serve as your guide, your protector, and your trusted advisor.

What Does a Criminal Defense Attorney Do?

During your personalized case review and strategy session, your criminal defense attorney will ask questions about the charges you face and the situation that led to you being charged with a crime. Once the meeting is over, our team of criminal defense professionals will conduct an independent investigation into the facts and circumstances that led to your arrest, and having evidence reviewed by forensic experts. In addition, your lawyer will research the law that applies to your case, and work with the prosecutor to try to negotiate a favorable plea arrangement.

A criminal defense attorney will also analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the prosecutor’s case, help you formulate a potential plea bargain, assess the potential penalties that apply and, if necessary, represent you at trial.

Finally, your criminal defense lawyer will act as a sounding board, helping you process feelings of frustration at being charged with a crime, and serve as a reality check so you can realistically evaluate your chances of success if you take your case to trial, and offer advice on the benefits and drawbacks of a proposed plea arrangement.

Why Should You Hire a Criminal Defense Attorney?

If you have been charged with a crime, you face the possibility of hefty fines, a lengthy prison sentence, and probation after you are released from jail.

A lawyer has spent years studying and learning the criminal justice system and the rules that apply. We are trained to understand complex laws and procedures, to identify and exploit any loopholes or inconsistencies that can be used to your advantage, and are devoted to defending you.

We have excellent negotiation skills and won’t back down when challenged. A criminal defense lawyer has been in situations like yours many times before, and we know how to work with prosecutors and judges to build a case that will help our client.

Criminal procedure and criminal law are complex and nuanced. In most criminal cases, there are Constitutional issues at play. The Constitution and its Amendments have been interpreted by courts across the country for over two centuries. This means that there are over 200 years of precedent that you must know and understand in order to make an argument about, for example, whether a search was legal under the 4th Amendment.

In addition to the written rules and procedures that apply in court, each jurisdiction has “unwritten” rules about how court is conducted, how pleas are negotiated, and how cases are resolved. Working with an experienced attorney can save you time and money because they know who to talk to, and how to move your case through court as quickly as possible.

Finally, prosecutors know that going to trial against someone who has never presented a case in court before will be much easier than taking a case to trial against a veteran criminal defense attorney. In addition, a seasoned criminal defense lawyer has years of negotiation skills to draw on, and can come up with creative sentencing ideas that a non-lawyer would not even think of presenting.

Should You Represent Yourself?

Legally, you are entitled to represent yourself in a criminal case. But that does not mean it is wise to do so.

Abraham Lincoln famously said “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”

Regardless of how smart you are, you should not represent yourself in a criminal case. Even lawyers who have been charged with a crime hire a criminal defense attorney, in large part to offer an objective assessment of the likelihood of success.

Regardless of how smart you are, you should not represent yourself in a criminal case. Even lawyers who have been charged with a crime hire a criminal defense attorney, in large part to offer an objective assessment of the likelihood of success.

A criminal defense attorney is trained to objectively evaluate the prosecution’s case, and to identify and exploit differences between your case and other cases that have resulted in a conviction. We use this knowledge and information to identify evidence and other subtle reasons why you should win your case. A criminal defense lawyer will look for factors that can be used to reduce the likelihood of a conviction or, if you are convicted, to reduce the length and severity of your sentence.

We are also trained to organize and present a complex set of facts, circumstances, and legal precedents in a logical way that will result in a winning argument - i.e. you not going to jail.

Additionally, witnesses are more likely to speak with an attorney or independent investigator than they are to speak with someone who was involved with the alleged crime.

There are complex substantive and procedural rules that apply in a court case and at the trial itself. A non-lawyer is unlikely to be familiar with these nuances, but they can play a critical role in the final outcome of the case.

A criminal defense attorney has access to important resources, like specialized tools for legal research, and a team of criminal defense professionals who will investigate a case, gather information, and present evidence that can be used to prove you are Not Guilty.

It takes months of preparation to get a case ready for trial. This includes investigation, research, negotiations, meetings with the judge and court staff, and trial preparation. If you were to try to prepare your own case for trial, you would need to devote a substantial amount of time. Instead, use that time doing more productive things like working at your own job or spending time with your own family and friends.

Our team of criminal defense professionals will thoroughly investigate your case, find witnesses that may be called to testify about your innocence, and will even work with expert witnesses to call into question forensic evidence that is presented by the prosecution.

Just Criminal Law. Protecting YOUR One Shot at Justice.

If you have been charged with a crime, Wyoming criminal defense attorney Christina L. Williams and her team of criminal defense professionals are here to help.

Learn more about the cases we handle, the communities we serve, and get answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Then contact us today to schedule a personalized case review and strategy session.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this article is offered for educational purposes only. This information is not offered as legal advice. A person accused of a crime should always consult with an attorney before making decisions that have legal consequences.