When you’re not guilty of the crime the government has charged you with there is only one option. Jury trial. Despite that, thousands of people take plea deals because they are scared to put their lives in the hands of the jury. We represented a client who was charged with the most serious offense possible: Murder in the First Degree. This client was adamant from the first day we met that he was not guilty. He had been accused of the crime based on the testimony of single eyewitness. However, this witness had serious mental health issues and later recanted her statement. Instead of dismissing the case, the prosecutors insisted on proceeding to trial. We were able to discredit the State’s witness and our client walked out of the courtroom a free man after receiving a full acquittal.
Sometimes you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. In one of our cases, our client agreed to drive across the country in a vehicle with his nephew. After the two were pulled over in Oklahoma for a minor traffic offense, the vehicle was searched, and police discovered several pounds of methamphetamine. Our client denied any knowledge of the drugs and rightfully insisted on a jury trial, where we helped secure a full acquittal.
We recently represented a woman who was accused of drug trafficking after her boyfriend was pulled over while driving through Oklahoma. Our client knew there was marijuana in the vehicle, but believed it was only a small amount for personal use. Unfortunately, the car was searched, and police discovered many pounds of marijuana. We developed a strategy to show the district attorney that our client was not a drug dealer. Over a course of several months of negotiations, we were able to convince the district attorney to reduce the charge to a lesser possession offense so that our client could avoid going to prison.
We recently represented a client who was charged with Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon. Our client was involved in a fight with another individual. This other individual suffered a knife wound during the fight. Unfortunately, our client had a significant criminal history and was facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. After much negotiation and countless hours of trial preparations, we were able to convince the district attorney not to use our client’s criminal history to enhance his sentence. Without his prior convictions used against him, our client was able to get a beneficial plea deal that will allow him to rejoin his family sooner than would have otherwise been possible.
A client of ours was on felony probation when she was charged with a new crime. This is too often a hopeless situation. The biggest—most important—rule of probation is to not to commit or be charged with new crimes. This client, who was 8 months pregnant at the time of her arrest, was committed to addressing her serious mental health issue, which was the root cause of her legal problems. After much work—we were able to get her accepted into Mental Health Court. As a result, this client escaped going to prison and was given a new start with her newborn child.
This year, we found ourselves representing an innocent client facing an unjust rape charge. We took it upon ourselves to investigate the case. We hunted down witnesses and set up interviews to determine the truth. Although our client remained in jail the entire time, we investigated his case and used his guidance to find the answers we needed to show his innocence. After providing the district attorney evidence of our client’s innocence, the rape charge was dismissed.