If you know that you are guilty of committing a crime, you may worry that your attorney knows that you are guilty even if he does not ask you whether you committed the crime. This may lead to concerns about how well your lawyer can represent you if he believes that you are guilty. However, an experienced criminal defense attorney knows that the focus should not be on your guilt or innocence but on the strength of the case against you.

Factual vs. Legal Guilt in Criminal Cases

It is important to keep in mind that the focus of your defense is not whether or not you committed the act but whether the prosecutor can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you are guilty. This is the difference between factual and legal guilt. Here is how it affects criminal cases:

  • Factual guilt. Factual guilt refers to what you actually did. However, an experienced criminal defense attorney will not focus on this because you can be factually guilty but not legally guilty. A good attorney will focus on your legal guilt.
  • Legal guilt. Legal guilt refers to whether the prosecutor can prove that you committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Whether you committed the crime or not, you are not legally guilty unless the prosecutor has enough evidence to convince a judge or jury to find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. So your attorney’s focus should be on this question: What can the prosecutor prove? His tactics may be to attack the strength of the evidence against you—whether or not your attorney believes that you are guilty.

Why Guilt or Innocence May Not Matter to Your Criminal Defense Attorney

An attorney has a duty to zealously represent his clients in criminal matters—regardless of the person’s guilt. Under our criminal justice system, everyone charged with a crime has a right to a vigorous defense. This is a protection all accused people have under the United States Constitution. An attorney does not have a duty to prove a client’s innocence, so it doesDoes Guilt Matter to Your Criminal Defense Attorney? not really matter to him whether the person is guilty. His duty is to prove the person’s defenses to show that he is not legally guilty.

Guilt is also not that important because criminal defense attorneys often feel like they never really know whether their clients are guilty or not. Even if someone confesses to his attorney, it does not mean that he really did it. He could be covering for someone else or have another reason for lying. In addition, he may not be guilty of this offense, but could have committed a less serious offense. For these and other reasons, attorneys often do not ask about guilt when talking to clients in criminal cases and instead focus their questions to clients on building a strong defense.

While your attorney has a duty to provide you with a defense if there is one to raise, this does not mean that he can lie for you. If he knows that you are guilty of the crime, he could not claim that you did not commit the crime as a defense. However, this does not preclude him from raising defenses that show the weaknesses in the prosecutor’s case against you.  

Are You Looking for a Criminal Defense Lawyer in Charlotte, NC?

If you are facing criminal charges, you need to speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. Please contact us online or call our Charlotte office directly at 980.207.3355 to schedule your free consultation.

 

Howard W. Long, II
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Charlotte Criminal Defense and DWI Lawyer