Caroline County Theft Defense

Getting charged with theft may not seem like the consequences are drastic, but it can lead to a large fine or possible jail time. An experienced defense attorney can help mitigate a theft charge process and make it bearable. Consulting with a Caroline County theft lawyer will benefit a case greatly.

Common Strategies

When a lawyer defends these cases, they must look at the elements of the crime and determine the strongest argument to challenge the evidence. There are a couple of circumstances in which the Commonwealth’s evidence can be challenged, and they can be done by:

  • Discovering how the alleged stolen item was taken. Whether or not it was seized, removed, or placed somewhere else
  • Challenging the guilty mind. Asking the individual if they knew the taken item was not their property or if the defendant believed they were taking an item if it was there
  • Challenging the intent to permanently deprive
  • There is also an element of intent where someone takes something with the intent to borrow it and return it

Experts

An attorney could use a variety of their resources to help build their client’s defense. The Commonwealth may allege that the client’s fingerprints are on the particular item that was seized and they are trying to determine if the client is the one who did the actual taking. However, at no point did anybody ever see the client take anything. A fingerprint analysis expert can be very helpful to the Caroline County theft defense in a particular case of that magnitude.

Most often, a forensics analysis expert is used for DNA and blood analysis. Sometimes, in certain cases, they tie individuals to a crime scene or an area via blood that may have been spilled in that particular area.

For example, a grand larceny combined with a breaking and entering takes place. With that breaking and entering, the authorities say that whoever broke the window or kicked in the door cut themselves and bled at the scene. The defense attorney can use a DNA expert to analyze their client’s blood to determine that the blood found at the scene is not the blood of the client.

Working with a Theft Attorney

The first step that a lawyer takes when preparing their client’s theft defense in Caroline County is to speak with their client and get an understanding of the facts of the case from their perspective. The most important things the attorney can do is to know what their client is going to say and know what their client understands the case to be.

Second, the attorney files a pretrial motion. A theft attorney looks for any statement their client made to police officers and for any record the client may have that they can receive in the pretrial motion. If there any audio or video evidence in existence that could help or even hurt the client, the attorney must know about that. They want as much information as possible before walking into a courtroom.

Lastly, an experienced Caroline County attorney visits the scene and locates and interviews witnesses to the actual event. Sometimes, they speak with the client and sometimes they do not. It is important to know who the witnesses are because they are going to be able to assist the defense attorney in further understanding the case their client is laying out. Locating and speaking with the witnesses is also one of the initial things that must be handled in the first couple of days or so, depending on when the case is set and representation.