The Sixth Amendment is all about the rights of criminal defendants. They have the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, an impartial jury, a lawyer, to know their accusers and to be aware of the charges and evidence against them.

Essentially, this means that even the most hardened criminals or mobsters have the same rights in the legal system as everyone else. Once a member of a mob family hires a lawyer, they can be within their rights to use some of the following defense strategies:

Stay Silent

If you’ve been taken into police custody and accused of a violent crime, law enforcement will likely ask questions they expect you to answer. However, ask any violent crime defense attorney, and they’ll tell you that you have the right to remain silent.

Saying anything, regardless of whether you think it will help clear your name, can often mean it can be used against you. The less you say before you have legal representation, the harder it might be for law enforcement to build their case.

Push Eyewitness Testimony Unreliability

If someone saw another person commit a crime, they might think their testimony is enough to see a conviction. However, science has shown us that eyewitness testimonies can be unreliable. Your lawyer might be able to use a number of strategies to highlight this point, such as by talking about:

  • Rushed photo ID
  • A lack of distinctive features
  • Crime scene stress
  • Racial disparity

Self-Defense

Violent crimes like murder, aggravated assault, and manslaughter aren’t always straightforward. You might be able to use self-defense as a defense strategy if they can prove your actions were justified. This often requires you to prove that you:

  • Weren’t at fault for provoking or starting the fight
  • Feared that you were in danger of being harmed
  • Didn’t use any more force than necessary to protect yourself from harm

You may be within your right to use deadly force when you can prove these factors under stand-your-ground laws.

Unlawful Search and Seizure

You might have something the police are looking for, but that doesn’t mean they can search and seize items at will. They must have probable cause or a warrant for both collecting evidence and making arrests.

If law enforcement had neither of those things when they searched your property, home, or body, they may have violated your constitutional rights. In that case, your violent crime defense attorney might be able to file a motion to have illegally obtained evidence suppressed.

Consent

As strange as it sounds, your attorney might be able to use consent as a valid defense against assault or battery charges. Such a situation can arise if both parties are equally involved and consent to a fight, but one person claims to be a battery victim. As long as you didn’t escalate the conflict and break the consent protection, this might be all it takes to see charges lessened or dropped.

Defending mobsters against violent crimes is often no different than defending anyone else. Regardless of your past or connections, you might be able to rely on some of these common defense strategies above. 

NCS
Latest posts by NCS (see all)