Fort Lauderdale Criminal Attorney Blog
The Florida Supreme Court recently overturned the first-degree murder conviction for a 2013 crime committed when he was a teenager. He was supposed to be in prison until he was in his 70s. Now, assuming he gets no further time, he’ll walk out in his 40s.
That’s a rare outcome. Fort Lauderdale homicide defense lawyers know that the best defense is an early one. That means the first few minutes, hours, days and weeks after serious criminal charges are filed can be absolutely critical to building your case and discrediting the one brought by the prosecution.
Think about it: Police interrogation stops the moment you make a clear, unambiguous request to have an attorney present. (If not, whatever you say thereafter will probably be inadmissible in court.) That’s less of your own word they have to twist against you (your silence can’t be used as evidence of guilt). The sooner your attorney is on board, the better the odds of gathering key evidence, witness statements, surveillance video and more. Finally, negotiation of charges is more likely to take place in those early stages, before charges are even finalized.
