Being accused of a felony is a serious problem in the state of California. After all, once you receive three of them you are on grounds for serving a long prison term and facing severe penalties. Even if you can’t afford an attorney, finding a way to do so is important because of the critical penalties at stake.
The three strike law will quickly put anyone convicted of three felonies behind bars for a life term. A life term seems unreasonable for someone who has not been convicted of violent crimes, and for those that are innocent, it is just absurd. A criminal defense attorney will look into your case and try to prove your point, and hopefully if things go well you can avoid serving a lifetime in jail.
Do your research before even contacting a criminal defense attorney. There are plenty out there with no experience, or with only enough experience to account for several cases. If you are dealing with the act of going to jail for a life sentence, you should only call attorneys that have had an impressive list of cases that have been won.
If you are pleased with what you see with an attorney, you should ask to see previous cases in which might be relevant to your case. Even though there are many who have used attorneys to combat the three strikes rule, only a handful may be relevant to the case you are facing. If a lawyer has dealt with a similar case before, he or she is a good candidate.
An attorney will sometimes try to manipulate his or her way into getting you to agree to using them in the court room. They may try to make it appear that they are the only option or try to scare you into making an impulse decision. The three strikes law is indeed a scary law to face, but you should still look at several attorneys regardless. That way you will know which one is best for you, and which ones are just out to make money.
When faced against impossible odds, you might feel compelled to give up and plead guilty or represent yourself. Don’t do either of these things, and instead still continue to get a criminal defense attorney. When things look bad, you can still win by having an attorney throw the case out for any number of reasons, such as wrongful search or lack of evidence. If you don’t get outside help, you are sure to lose the case.
Closing Comments
For some, the three strike rule hardly seems fair. But right now the law is holding tight to its values, and in order to beat the law you need a good criminal defense attorney. California is full of them- you just need to see which one is best for you.
Learn more on Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney and Ventura Criminal Defense Lawyer.