Woodbridge Theft Defense Strategies

Every theft-related charge has its own set of elements which the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. An experienced theft attorney will go over each of those elements and decide which ones to attempt to challenge in court. For each Woodbridge theft case, the defense strategy depends on the facts and circumstances surrounding the case. In some cases, an individual may deny involvement with the theft or suggest that the theft was accidental in nature.

For example, if a person is shopping in a store and intends to purchase a large number of items and some of them get tucked away and forgotten, they might pay for the majority of the items but walk out with the forgotten items. Under those circumstances, the person and his or her counsel might assert the defense of mistake, which means the person lacked the required criminal intent to commit the crime.

In cases where the facts are likely to be sufficient for a finding of guilt, an attorney will attempt a mitigation strategy whereby they introduce evidence about the character of the defendant, prior good deeds of the defendant and other mitigating factors that could lessen the sentence upon a finding of guilt.

Initial Steps

The first step to building a Woodbridge theft defense strategy is always collecting facts. An attorney needs to know exactly what happened to know exactly what the prosecutor can prove. If there might be a factual dispute, the attorney will compile evidence that supports the individual’s version of the event. If there might be a legal dispute, the lawyer prepares legal research in order to challenge the law in court. The initial steps taken can vary from case to case.

Evidence

The evidence a criminal lawyer will want to obtain varies in all cases. In some cases, documentary evidence that involves the alleged theft is required. In other cases, video evidence may be relevant. Whatever the evidence might be, it is an attorney’s job to acquire that evidence as soon as possible, be it by subpoena or through discovery.

Experts

Certain theft cases involve significant and sometimes complicated accounting procedures. In those cases, a theft defense strategy may include the use of an accounting expert in order to help parse through all the evidence and find out exactly what it means. In some cases, we might also require that expert to come to court to testify so that the expert can explain to the court or jury what exactly the evidence means and how it affects our client’s guilt or innocence.

Seeking a Lawyer’s Help

A person charged with theft should contact a criminal lawyer immediately upon being charged. Some of these cases require a significant amount of pre-trial work and the attorney needs as much time as possible to establish a theft defense strategy in Woodbridge. Calling a lawyer to defend someone on a theft charge a week before the trial date is never a good idea.

A lawyer can help you fully understand the law surrounding his case and can set reasonable expectations for the court date which may eliminate a lot of the pre-trial anxiety that most people endure when facing theft charges. The fear of the unknown can be tremendous and a good lawyer will work with you to fully understand the possible and probable outcomes when you bring your defense strategies to court.