Criminal Defense: How To Make Sure You Get A Fair Trial

There are different rights that criminal defendants have regarding a fair trial, and the following are some rights that your attorney will work to uphold during the trial process.

One of the most fundamental rights of a criminal defendant is to have a lawyer defending and counseling them. If a defendant cannot afford to hire their own attorney, the government needs to provide one for them. Furthermore, defendants have the right to have an adequate defense presented. This means that a defense lawyer should adequately investigate the circumstances of the offense, review evidence of the prosecutor, present exculpatory evidence, and prepare for trial. Ineffective assistance of counsel violates a defendant’s rights to a defense.

The U.S. Constitution gives defendants the right to have a trial conducted before an impartial jury of their peers. There are only a few exceptions when trials for minor charges might be in front of a judge - otherwise, an impartial jury must be selected at the start of the trial process. Impartial generally means that jurors should not be biased against the defendant or have a stake or interest in the outcome of the case that will skew their judgment. Jury selection is a complex process, and it sets the stage for who will decide whether you are convicted or not. You want a defense lawyer with extensive experience selecting juries who will approach your trial in an impartial manner.

As part of a criminal trial, the prosecutor will call witnesses who testify against the defendant. The defendant then has the right to cross-examine and challenge witnesses for the prosecution. Additionally, the defendant has the right to call their own witnesses to challenge the prosecutor’s case or present exculpatory evidence and information. There are limitations on which witnesses might be called and the scope of their testimony due to the Rules of Evidence, however.

You likely have heard of “due process,” but you might not know how it might apply to a fair criminal trial. The reality is that due process can come into play in many different ways, and due process is violated when trial procedures are unfair in a manner that fatally inflicts the trial. This can involve a judge arbitrarily deciding what evidence to exclude or let in and favoring the prosecution, or other decisions that might create unfair bias with the jury, such as requiring the defendant to wear prison clothes.