As was evidenced by the case that was discussed in last week’s blog post, federal authorities are still aggressively pursuing Californians they believe are involved in drug trafficking and related offenses. The government typically spends months, sometimes, even years investigating individuals to gather evidence. This means that those who are accused of drug crimes are often up against relatively strong legal arguments and supporting evidence.
When facing criminal allegations, an accused individual is innocent until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, a criminal defendant does not have to prove his innocence. Instead, he or she only needs to raise reasonable doubt as to his or her guilt. This is why challenging specific elements of a crime or particular pieces of evidence is important and, sometimes, successful.
In order to successfully challenge an element of a criminal statute or raise evidentiary issues, an individual must be competent with the law. He or she must be able to utilize statutory and case law by applying it to their case and presenting persuasive legal arguments. Research, writing, negotiation and litigation skills must be brought to the table in a skillful way to compete with aggressive prosecutors.
Every day, the Law Office of Thomas A. Johnson brings legal skills to the negotiation table and courtroom for its clients. Utilizing our years of experience, our team analyzes every individual case, searching for potential evidentiary issues to exploit on behalf of our clients. We strive to provide our clients with the best criminal defense possible, and hope to always reach a resolution that will protect them from penalties that could lead to long-term consequences.