By Clayton T. Robertson (RobertsonLitigation.com) (Criminal Defense Attorney)
I've recently blogged on several topics related to this subject because the fact is "facts win cases." See here: https://www.robertsonlitigation.com/post/guilt-reports and https://www.robertsonlitigation.com/post/attention-to-detail.
Does your attorney have a "plea machine" mentality, which occurs far too often, or do they doggedly dig into and gather the evidence necessary to understand what really happened in your case?
A "dog-with-a-bone" investigative mindset by your attorney serves numerous purposes:
- It reveals exculpatory (favorable) evidence supporting your version of events.
- It exposes "government misconduct" by law enforcement or by the prosecutor.
- It demonstrates the government overcharged you in its criminal complaint.
- It produces facts supporting motions that could result in a dismissal of your case.
- It applies pressure on the prosecutor to resolve your case more favorably.
- It produces mitigating evidence showing that you should receive a lesser sentence.
Will the government ever admit on its own to conducting a sloppy or incomplete investigation? Will the government ever admit on its own to overstepping its authority when conducting a search or making an arrest? Will the government ever admit on its own to committing misconduct (ethical or otherwise) in your case? How many times have we heard about defendants wrongfully charged and convicted because the "prosecution team" failed to conduct a proper investigation (or, worse, failed to disclose critical evidence out of a desire to win)?
Of course, you know the answers to these questions, and others like them. The key is to find an attorney who practices an unrelenting and tenacious approach to litigation willing to take the time to discover the key facts -- including witnesses, documents, and physical evidence -- that might very well make a difference in your case.
Finally, while I have blogged on this subject in the context of criminal defense, this same mindset is equally necessary in civil litigation (where one party sues another party for money or other damages). In these cases, just as in the criminal domain, your attorney needs to aggressively obtain the key facts that support your theory of the case, not only potentially for a better resolution of the case prior to trial, but if necessary, for a trial in which one key fact might make all the difference to a jury (or to the judge). Thus, regardless of the legal field, "facts win cases."
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