When found in the unfortunate position of being charged with a crime, many people believe that they can successfully represent themselves. However, as the old saying goes, “He who represents himself, has a fool for a client.” Being accused of a crime, no matter how minor, is serious business. The potential consequences of pleading guilty to any offense are numerous and long-lasting. Look at it this way, if you were suddenly diagnosed with a tumor on your kidney, would you go into your garage, grab a saw, and remove it yourself? Of course not. You would go to a specialized professional who has experience removing tumors and/or organs, ie., a doctor. But when someone is charged with a crime, what makes them assume they can “just talk to the prosecutor” and “straighten it all out.” Well, there is no rule prohibiting you from representing yourself in a criminal case, just as there is no rule prohibiting you from performing surgery on yourself. The difference between representing yourself and having a skilled professional represent you, ie., an attorney, is the outcome.
The likelihood of a favorable outcome of a doctor removing a tumor from your body is much greater then if you do it yourself. The same is true in criminal cases. The likelihood of a favorable outcome of an attorney representing you is much greater than if you do it yourself.
How many criminal cases have you handled representation of yourself? For many people, it is one or two at the most. So your experience on criminal cases is very limited (assuming you are not an attorney). A skilled and experienced criminal defense attorney may likely have handled thousands of criminal cases in his career. Thus, he will know how to best serve you and achieve the best results possible.
Assume being charged with a crime is like suddenly breaking your arm, something you wish hadn’t happened, but it did. Now you need to mitigate the damages, not aggravate them. You need to contact emergency services and professionals to fix your broken arm. You should not attempt to fix your broken arm yourself.
If you find yourself accused of a crime, don’t “attempt to fix your broken arm yourself.”
Contact a skilled and professional criminal defense attorney.
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