Prior New Jersey criminal trial experience matters

Prior prosecution and defense trial experience can often mean the difference between winning a case or obtaining a just plea bargain and being confined to jail for months, years, or even decades. Our New Jersey trial lawyers have experience prosecuting homicides, sexual assault cases, drug cases, drunk driving charges, speeding tickets, and the full range of violent and non-violent indictments and charges. A trial is simply not the time to learn a job. Your liberty, your finances, your job, your relationships, and your reputation are all on the line in criminal cases.

Trial experience matters because:

• Prosecutors will not offer fair plea arrangements unless they know you have the ability to try, and win, a serious criminal case. The more a Watchung criminal defense attorney can demonstrate an ability to win cases, have charges dismissed, and have evidence suppressed, the more likely a prosecutor is to make a deal because the prosecutor knows he/she might lose.
• Our criminal justice system is built on the premise that defendants will be tried by a jury of their peers who are more likely to listen and be fair than a judge or a prosecutor. Understanding how to choose jurors and present cases before them is an art that must be learned through experience.
• Trials depend on presentation of evidence, questioning of witnesses, use of correct legal procedures, and the ability to find flaws in the prosecution’s case. The only way to build a case for trial is to understand what happens in a trial. Similar to a performer: until he/she has been on stage in front of an audience, the performer does not know how loud to sing, how fast to talk, or how well the lines will be received.

Trial experience also matters because only an experienced litigator can recommend a plea bargain. Trials are always risky. Someone who has tried multiple cases has a much better idea of what a jury is likely to do than a novice.

Dismissal and reduction of charges

Often the police will bring a series of charges, or charge someone with a more serious crime than the facts support. Part and parcel of any defense lawyer’s job is to show that the defendant, if guilty at all, is only guilty of the less serious offenses. Reducing charges, or having them dismissed entirely, requires:

• A thorough understanding of New Jersey law and procedure
• An ability to negotiate by showing the flaws in the prosecution’s case and the strength in our client’s case
• An understanding of the many practical issues involved, such as the likelihood a co-defendant may not agree to testify, or that the police violated established procedures

The judge can agree to dismiss charges if the law does not establish the charges. The prosecution can also recommend a dismissal or reduction of charges.

Plea agreements in new Jersey criminal cases

There are many decisions that go into the terms of a plea agreement and whether the plea agreement should be accepted. The final decision to accept a plea offer belongs to the accused, not the defense lawyer. Some of the key factors are:

• With a plea agreement, there is certainty as to which charges the accused will accept and what the terms of the sentence will be—provided the trial judge accepts the plea bargain.
• The strength and weaknesses of each sides’ case. This includes the likelihood that evidence may be dismissed, the credibility of witnesses, and the predispositions of the trial judge
• Miscellaneous factors. For example, a prosecutor may only be able to try a set number of cases during the week and must settle other cases so they will not be dismissed.