Facing criminal charges is a process that will take time and effort, and you should not go through it alone. Criminal lawyers are extremely helpful for people who are facing criminal charges, and one of the things your criminal defense lawyer will do to prepare for your case is interview prosecution witnesses. Here are several things to understand about prosecution witnesses and the goals your lawyer will have with interviewing them.
Prosecution witnesses are used to build the case against you
One thing you might not realize about criminal cases is that the prosecutor is the person highly responsible for deciding whether to proceed with a criminal case or dismiss it. The prosecutor is a lawyer who works for the state, and he or she will base this decision on several factors, but a big one is the evidence there is against you. One type of evidence the prosecutor will look for is witnesses. If there are people who can testify with statements that verify that you committed a crime, the prosecutor will find them and have them testify in your case. By doing this, the prosecutor will have more evidence to prove that you are guilty of the crime in question.
Your lawyer aims to do three main things when interviewing them
When the prosecutor has witnesses that will testify against you, your lawyer will often step in and interview them before the trial begins. Your lawyer will aim to do the following three things while interviewing them:
- Discredit their credibility. If your lawyer is able to successfully discredit a person's credibility, this witness will not help the prosecutor's case a whole lot. It is hard for a court to believe a person who is not considered a credible witness, and this is one of the top reasons your lawyer will try to discredit a witness's credibility.
- Find out the details they know. Your lawyer will probe into the details the witness has simply to find out what he or she knows.
- Find discrepancies with their testimonies. The other key thing your lawyer will do is look for discrepancies with the testimony of each witness. If there are discrepancies in what they are saying, it will help your case a lot.
If you are currently facing any type of criminal charge, get help from a lawyer. You can learn more about this by contacting a criminal law firm today.
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