Not Guilty: Criminal lawyers for the innocent

Criminal Lawyers for Not Guilty Verdicts

Twenty steps to win a criminal trial

Our criminal lawyers are experts at obtaining not guilty verdicts for our clients before juries, judges, and magistrates.

At Australian Criminal Law Group, we understand that being falsely accused of a crime has a terrible impact on your life and that there is no greater injustice than being found guilty of a crime you didn’t commit. The potential for devastation to your life is real, and that is why it is essential to be proactive in defending yourself from the earliest stages of a police investigation through to your final day in court.

Below are the twenty steps you should follow to beat the criminal charges being brought against you.

Step one: Understand the gravity of being accused of a crime

You must take the allegation seriously, irrespective of how ridiculous the accusation may be. Do not assume that you have nothing to worry about because you are innocent.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Innocent people can be convicted of crimes.  It is easy to minimise the situation or be in denial, but the best approach is to face the prosecution against you head-on and be ready for the fight of your life.

Step two: Seek legal advice immediately

The earlier you speak with a criminal lawyer, the better your chances of successfully defending the allegations against you. Your criminal lawyer may be able to stop the police from charging you with a criminal offence. They can warn you about police tactics used to gather evidence against you, such as telephone intercepts, pre-text calls, search warrants, property seizures, and inducements for interviews, e.g, the promise of bail or “just wanting to hear your side of the story”.

Step three: Choose the right lawyer

The legal system is complex, and navigating its intricacies can be tricky.  Without proper legal representation, you could be exposed to a miscarriage of justice.  A good criminal lawyer can guide you through the legal process, work tirelessly with you on your case, and help you make the right decisions to get a not guilty verdict. The lawyers at Australian Criminal Law Group consistently win trials by developing relationships with our clients and fighting for their interests in court. Many of the clients whose trials and hearings we won have taken the time to write reviews about their experience with us.

Read what our clients have to say about us here.

Step four: Practice your right to silence

Your criminal lawyer will almost always advise you to practice your right to silence. If the police approach you, you must be careful what you say and do. The best thing you can do is not say anything at all. This includes if you are questioned before attending a police station, for example, on body-worn video, and at the police station in an interview. Remember that if you have been arrested or are being interviewed, the police have almost always decided to charge you. You are unlikely to be able to talk your way out of it. Whatever you say or do can and will be used against you in court later on. Loose lips sink ships, so keep your mouth shut.

Step five: Get bail

If you are arrested and charged with a criminal offence, it is paramount that you get bail if you are not guilty of the allegations. This is for a number of reasons. The first is obvious. If you are innocent and bail is refused, then spending months or years in jail waiting for your case to finish is a travesty and a miscarriage of justice. The second reason is, however, just as important. If you are in jail, you are considerably disadvantaged in defending the charges against you. Your access to lawyers is more limited and your access to your own evidence is restricted. For example: People who you could have called to give evidence but could not reach in custody; email, messages, and electronic communications buried on your phone or computer; social media posts; and other documents or photographs that only you know exist but that are hard to locate for others.

Step six: Do not speak to your accuser

As tempting as it might be, do not confront the person who has accused you of the crime. Firstly, contacting them is probably a breach of your bail and may result in you being jailed for breach of bail with fresh charges of influencing a witness. Secondly, anything you say to them can be used as evidence against you later. Even if you don’t say anything harmful to your case, they may say you did. Remember, the person has lied about you once, and they may do it again, making a bad situation even worse. You should also be wary of accusers contacting you by phone because police frequently use a tactic where they record calls where an accuser contacts you on the telephone, intending to manipulate you into making an admission of guilt.

Step seven: Do not talk about your case with others

Any person, other than your criminal lawyer, can become a witness in the prosecution against you and be asked in court what you have told them about the allegations against you. While in theory, giving your version and telling someone what happened should be helpful, often it is not. This is because memory is fallible, and they may not remember what you told them accurately. If they tell the court something you said inaccurately, the prosecution may twist it to present you as a liar because you are telling people different versions, even though you did not. You can tell people you have been charged with an offence, are not guilty, and are fighting the charges, but you should refrain from giving any details of what occurred.

Step eight: Know the case against you

As part of the prosecution against you, the police will give you a ‘brief of evidence’. The brief of evidence contains all the evidence the police are relying upon to convict you of the offences with which you are charged. This includes police, witness, and expert statements, interviews, forensic evidence (e.g., DNA, fingerprints, and toxicology), electronic material (e.g., CCTV and cellebrite),  phone records (e.g., messages and call records), and surveillance material (e.g., phone taps). You need to study the material and familiarise yourself with the brief of evidence. It is hard to read the lies about you, but absolutely necessary for you to know the evidence off by heart to respond to it forcefully.

Step nine: Answer your criminal lawyer’s questions

You need to provide as much information to your criminal lawyer as they request to defend your case. Answer their questions honestly and avoid keeping details from them.  It could weaken your defence if you do not tell your criminal lawyer something that later comes up in court. When you speak to your lawyer, unlike other people, the conversation is covered by legal privilege. This means your lawyer cannot be subpoenaed and forced to say what you have told them. Everything you say to your lawyer is confidential and cannot be repeated without your permission.

Step ten: Ask your criminal lawyer questions

The person who knows your life the best, including what really happened, is always you. Your criminal lawyer is not a mind reader and cannot always know what you are thinking. If you believe a piece of evidence or information might be relevant, and your lawyer hasn’t asked, ask them if it is important to your case. It may be crucial in helping you win your case. Similarly, if you don’t understand why evidence is important, ask your criminal lawyer to explain it to you. Cases are won where criminal lawyers and clients communicate openly, exchange ideas, and collaborate to build a defence.

Step eleven: Gather evidence to give to your lawyer

Gather as much evidence as possible and provide it to your criminal lawyer. Potential evidence includes emails, messages and other communications, social media, photographs and videos, CCTV, phone, business, and school records. Evidence of this kind can be damning to the prosecution case in that it can be used to catch witnesses in lie and cause substantial damage to their credibility. It is also evidence that the prosecution is often unaware of and can smash their case open like a sledgehammer. Similarly, do not destroy evidence you believe could harm your defence.  It is better that your lawyer is prepared and fully knows your case.

Step twelve: Write down what happened

As soon as you can, write a detailed timeline of events leading up to the alleged offending, at the time of the alleged offending, and after the alleged offending. Memory fades over time, and it is crucial to have a contemporaneous version of what occurred. Store the document in a secure location inaccessible to any other person. It should not be saved or accessible on any device without a password that only you know. Ensure the password is not saved on the device, browse incognito, and always log out. Remember, the police can seize your devices as part of their investigation. Ensure you write at the top of the page: “Instructions to my Lawyer”. This will cause the document to become legally ‘privileged’ and should make it inadmissible against you if police obtain a copy of the document.

Step thirteen: Consider the motive of your accuser

There are many reasons someone would lie about you, which must be considered carefully. Some of the reasons or motives that our criminal lawyers have encountered include:

• They were the perpetrators of a crime against you.
• You were acting in self-defence.
• Revenge for a harm they perceive you caused them, including emotional harm.
• To provide an excuse for their own behaviour, e.g., cheating on their spouse.
• To obtain a financial advantage, e.g., via settlement out of court or access to funds for victims.
• To gain an advantage in the family court in a child custody matter.
• To obtain a visa to allow a person to remain in Australia.
• Mental illness or personality disorders.
• Because they have mistaken you for another person (who committed an offence against them).

Step fourteen: Create a witness list

You will need to compile a witness list for your lawyer. This should include anyone who can testify about what happened in the time leading up to the alleged offending, at the time of the alleged offending, and after the alleged offending. Provide the list to your criminal lawyer with a brief outline of what you think they might say and their name, address, phone number, and brief details about your relationship with them. However, do not discuss your case in detail with them, or the evidence that they might be able to give. This is because evidence can be contaminated, and they (and you) can later be accused of collusion in court, which may damage your credibility.

Step fifteen: Build a case based on good character

If you have no criminal record or have not been in trouble for a particular type of crime, you may be able to raise your character as a reason why you are unlikely to have committed the crime charge and unlikely to lie about what happened. Character evidence can be raised in many ways. One way is to have a police officer tell the court you have no criminal record. Another way is for you to give evidence and say to the court that you have never been in trouble. The third way is to call character witnesses to talk about you and tell the court good things about you and why you are not the type of person to commit the crime alleged.

Step sixteen: Understand the law

Your criminal lawyer will explain the law to you. This includes the ‘elements’ (acts and state of mind) that the prosecution must prove for you to be found guilty, as well as the defences that may be available. Your criminal lawyer will also explain the law about the admissibility of evidence, which is why some evidence is allowed into a court case and other evidence is excluded from it. It is important you understand the law, as it will assist you in providing instructions to your criminal lawyer about what happened and why your case is being conducted as it is.

Step 17: Provide a detailed statement to your lawyer

Your criminal lawyer will sit down with you and take a detailed statement from you about yourself and what happened. This is different to the version of events that you have recorded privately. The statement will provide a blueprint for your case, how witnesses are cross-examined, and the evidence that you might give. You and your criminal lawyer must be on the same page when your court case proceeds to a hearing or trial. Your criminal lawyer must know what you are going to say and never caught out by surprise. The statement can be used as a foundation for you to practice giving evidence with your criminal lawyer, including being cross-examined.

Step eighteen: Choose the right barrister

In some cases, a barrister will be needed or desired by the client. It is essential to choose the right barrister for your case. You should select your barrister in close consultation with your solicitor because they are best placed to know who will be best suited to fight the charges against you. Some barristers are better at cross-examination than with the law, others specialise in a particular kind of case, e.g., sex, drugs, or fraud. A barrister might spend a lot of time with clients or very little. There is a broad spectrum of junior and senior counsel, and your criminal lawyer can provide you with a list of barristers to choose from to ensure you have the right person for your case.

Step nineteen: Know the court process

The court process is complex and frustratingly slow. There are many stages, with the trial or hearing being at the very end. Different types of charges have different types of court appearances. There are also different processes depending on whether your case will finalise in the Local, District, or Supreme Court. Similarly, the location of a court can influence the time it takes to finish a court case, because the backlog differs substantially depending on the area where you are being prosecuted. It can be very confusing to someone who has not been in the system before, and having your criminal lawyer explain the court process to you early will minimise your stress.

Step twenty: Look after yourself

The final step is to look after yourself. Court cases are a rollercoaster of emotions. You need to be in the right state of mind, which is hard when under immense stress. However, you need to stay focused for the fight of your life because if you do not then you will struggle with steps one to nineteen. Having a good relationship with, and trust in, your criminal lawyer is vital for your mental health and prospects of defending a case.

Why choose the Australian Criminal Law Group