Building Your Defense
Your rights as the accused and how a defense is built: what to do if arrested, common defenses, motions to suppress and dismiss, plea vs. trial, speedy trial, double jeopardy, and representing yourself.
All Building Your Defense guides
- Jury Selection and Your Right to a Fair Jury
How jury selection works: voir dire, cause challenges, peremptory strikes, and why Batson bars race or sex discrimination in picking your jury.
- Should You Testify in Your Own Defense?
Whether to testify is entirely your choice: the Fifth Amendment right not to, why silence can't be held against you, and the real pros and cons.
- What Is Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt?
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest legal standard, resting entirely on the prosecution. Here's what it means and why it matters.
- Mistake of Fact vs. Mistake of Law
An honest factual mistake can sometimes negate criminal intent. Not knowing something was illegal almost never does. Here's the difference.
- Intoxication as a Defense
Voluntary intoxication rarely excuses a crime; involuntary intoxication is a narrower, stronger defense. Rules vary by state.
- The Insanity Defense Explained
How the insanity defense actually works, why it rarely succeeds, and how it differs from competency to stand trial.
- Duress and Necessity Defenses
Duress and necessity can excuse a crime committed under threat or to avoid greater harm, but both have strict limits and rarely apply to murder.
- Self-Defense as a Legal Defense
Plain-English guide to self-defense as a legal defense: reasonable force, retreat rules, castle doctrine, and what to do if charged.
- What Is Discovery in a Criminal Case?
Plain-English guide to criminal discovery: police reports, witness lists, and Brady material rules a prosecutor must turn over.
- Common Criminal Defenses Explained
A plain-English guide to the main types of criminal defenses: didn't do it, justified, excused, constitutional violations, and reasonable doubt.
- What Is a Motion to Suppress Evidence?
How a motion to suppress evidence works, the exclusionary rule, fruit of the poisonous tree, and what to do if a search or confession was illegal.
- Should You Take a Plea Deal?
Weighing a plea deal against trial: the trial penalty, collateral consequences, and why the decision is always yours to make.
- The Alibi Defense
How the alibi defense works, why notice-of-alibi deadlines matter, what corroboration helps, and why the prosecution still bears the burden of proof.
- What Is a Motion to Dismiss a Criminal Case?
A motion to dismiss asks the judge to end a criminal case before trial. Here are the main grounds and what "with prejudice" really means.
- Your Right to a Speedy Trial
Your Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial: the Barker v. Wingo test, statutory deadlines, waivers, and dismissal as the remedy.
- Eyewitness Misidentification
Eyewitness ID is a top cause of wrongful convictions. How memory fails, suggestive lineups, and the motions/experts that challenge an ID.
- Statute of Limitations on Criminal Charges
Time limits for filing criminal charges: how statutes of limitations work, why murder usually has none, and what tolls the clock.
- Entrapment as a Defense
Entrapment defense explained: subjective vs objective tests, predisposition, and why a police opportunity alone isn't entrapment.
- What to Do If You're Arrested
What to do if you're arrested: stay silent, ask for a lawyer, refuse searches, and record details. Your rights, step by step.
- How Criminal Defense Works: A Plain-English Guide
A plain-English guide to how criminal defense works: the presumption of innocence, key rights, case stages, and plea vs. trial.
- What Is a Hung Jury and a Mistrial?
A hung jury deadlocks; a mistrial follows and — unlike an acquittal — usually allows a retrial without violating double jeopardy.
- Double Jeopardy Explained
What double jeopardy really protects against, and the mistrial, appeal, and separate-sovereigns exceptions most people don't expect.
- False and Coerced Confessions
Why false confessions happen, what Miranda actually requires, and how a lawyer can move to suppress a coerced or unlawful confession.
- Challenging the Chain of Custody
How gaps in evidence collection, storage, and lab testing can weaken a criminal case, and how a defense lawyer uses them.
- Can You Represent Yourself in a Criminal Case?
Yes, you have a constitutional right to self-representation in a criminal case, but courts and lawyers strongly discourage it. Here's why.
- Competency to Stand Trial
Competency to stand trial asks if a defendant can understand court proceedings now — different from an insanity defense about the crime itself.