How to Protect Yourself if You’ve Been Charged with a Crime

It is very difficult for a person to remain calm and composed when they find out that they have been accused of a criminal offense due to fear and anxiety of what will happen next. In this list, there are items with the help of which the accused can protect themselves from such an accusation and do the best they can.

The right to remain silent

One of the basic rights that you are guaranteed is to defend yourself with silence. Every conversation you have with the police or investigators can be used against a spoken person, and sentences that they have thought differently may have different connotations. This is not a space where mistakes are allowed because they can have great consequences for the accused. If there is a situation where they are detained, the inspectors will immediately begin the interrogation and ask questions of the convicted person. This is the moment when a statement should not be given, but the arrested person should wait for the appropriate moment after careful consideration.

Get a lawyer

A criminal charge is a very difficult and demanding process that consists of many parts. The good thing is that every person has the right to their own lawyer who will represent them in court, like a top criminal defense attorney in Akron, Ohio, who is focused on these types of cases. A lawyer is given many powers, such as collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and representing and defending the accused in court. Also, a criminal charge is a process that requires a lot of documentation to be collected from different parties, and the good thing is that a lawyer will take over these tasks. The accused person is in difficult situations full of worry and stress and, most often, is not able to defend themselves properly in those moments, so it is a good thing that a lawyer can do it adequately.

Gather evidence

The most important method for defending an accused person in court is precisely by collecting evidence that proves that person’s innocence. Evidence can be very different and can be considered anything that proves that a person did not commit the crime they are accused of or that someone else did. The best evidence is videos, so the accused persons must react quickly, and if they have already been at the scene of the crime and know that they will be accused, they need to collect those videos from local markets or anyone who can possess them. It is important that the accused pay attention to everything in detail and collect as many things as possible that can be useful.

Keep calm

No matter how difficult the situation is, the accused must be included in the process and must contribute to their defense. The anger that is caused after learning about a criminal charge is difficult to control, and the accused person can create even bigger problems for themselves if they say something that they shouldn’t have out of anger or get into a polemic with the police or inspectors. Another right that is granted to a person who is accused or even arrested is the right to a psychologist. Many prisons provide the services of a prison psychologist, but it is also a good thing for you to contact the accused on their own so that they can help them maintain their mental health.

Don’t post anything on social media

Also, out of anger, many people start to share their cases and their events on social networks. This can have a series of negative impacts that can worsen the whole case because different speculations will be started by different people, and unnecessary community polemics will be created. It is the jury that also plays a big role in the verdicts, and they can easily fall under the speculations that take place on social networks and create a wrong image of the case.

Find witnesses

For the accused’s statements to be valued more, someone must confirm them in front of the court and the jury, and these are precisely the witnesses. There are several types of witnesses, but the most important are eyewitnesses who saw what happened and were at the scene of the crime and will tell the judge what happened, whether the suspect was there, and if so, what he was doing. There are also character witnesses who can speak about the nature of the accused’s behavior and defend the honor of that person. There is also a third type of witness, namely those who are professionals in their work and who can confirm that it is impossible for things to happen the way the accuser says and that the accused cannot be guilty. Witnesses should be spoken to very carefully because a criminal case is not a small matter, and they can be frightened depending on the type of case. This means that the accused should guarantee their safety, which they are concerned about.

Repeat the trial

Unfortunately, there are no rare cases in which the accused, who is innocent, is given an unfair verdict. This is an extremely difficult situation, but surrender is not an option, and an innocent person must not give up on their rights even after the verdict. There are conditions that the accused must fulfill to repeat the case, and this can also be done with the help of a lawyer. Legal procedures can be used to file a lawsuit against the verdict, explain why it is considered unfair, and request that the case be moved to another court and that the verdict be made by other people. This method is used when the court makes an unfair decision, and it is a sign that there is hope for proving innocence, but it is not a sign to stop.

Life can be very cruel and unfair at times and everyone should be prepared to face bad moments like being charged with a crime and be ready to stand up for themselves to get through it without consequences. This list contains exactly the methods that should be followed if someone happens to be in such a situation.