Ways to get your case dismissed
You might be surprised to learn that not every defendant who is charged with a crime will end up in a trial or accepting a plea. Instead, some cases end up dismissed by either a court of law or the prosecution. One of the first steps that many criminal defense lawyers take is to determine whether there are any grounds on which a case can be dismissed. The following will review some of the most common grounds for obtaining a dismissal.
Lack of probable cause
To arrest an individual, law enforcement must have probable cause to believe that an individual committed a criminal offense. Law enforcement is prohibited from arresting an individual merely on a gut feeling. If you are able to establish that the prosecution does not have a sufficient amount of evidence to suggest that probable cause existed to arrest you, it is possible to obtain a dismissal of your charges.
Errors in criminal complaints
As part of writing a criminal complaint, a law enforcement officer is required to sign the document under oath and attest that the contents of the document are truthful. If a complaint is improperly written and submitted to the court, the prosecution might be required to dismiss the complaint that is initiated against you.
Illegal searches or seizures
Law enforcement is permitted to stop a vehicle or person only under certain conditions. If a law enforcement randomly stops a vehicle without sufficient cause, the stop will subsequently be classified as illegal because it violates the driver’s constitutional rights. In regards to searches, law enforcement can only perform a search if they have a lawful search warrant or an exception to the search warrant requirement applies. If law enforcement does not satisfy these requirements, any evidence that is seized from a search is likely to be classified as unconstitutional and can not be admitted in a court of law. If either a search or seizure was unlawful, a person will likely be able to obtain a dismissal of the case.
Insufficient evidence
If a person is arrested and faces pending criminal charges, the prosecution must establish that there was probable cause to believe that a person committed a crime. Similar to arrests, the evidence must show law enforcement’s basis for believing that a person committed a crime. If there is a lack of sufficient evidence to support the prosecution’s charges against a person, it is often possible to obtain a dismissal because there is not enough cause to move forward in the case.
Contact an experienced criminal defense lawyer
A criminal defense lawyer has the ability to evaluate a criminal case as well as the various available evidence to determine your available strategies to obtain a dismissal. At the Betty Blackwell-Austin Criminal Defense, we have helped a number of people successfully have their case dismissed.
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