Just What is a Criminal Defense Lawyer?

Hopefully none of us will ever need a criminal defense lawyer however, recently Victoria asked what one does. I thought I could answer that pretty easily but decided to look it up any way and discovered I don’t know as much as I thought. I told her that they will defend someone who is accused of a crime. That was pretty much all I knew. I mean what I know about them I got from television and books.

I did know that if you were accused of a crime, the only person that can help you is a criminal defense attorney. The reasons behind this is because you don’t know or maybe not even understand how the judiciary system works. That means it would be difficult to represent yourself in open court. Billy Jensen says that there is so many rules hidden away in court interpretations of federal and state constitutions. For example you may know if a search of your home is reasonable or not. You may not know that things they find could not admissible in court.

That would be something you would have talk with your lawyer about. You can visit Astor Legal to search for more information. During our discussion Victoria had some interesting questions most of which I couldn’t answer. I felt like I need to let her watch a legal show or something. I would, of course, never at her age.

She wanted to know if a criminal lawyer the same as the lawyer we visited during our divorce. I had to explain they were different and that the lawyer we went to see about buying the house as well as when I updated my will were all different as well. That lawyers were a lot like doctors. Each one specialized in a particular field and that was good thing. Due to the fact that a criminal defense lawyer has crossed paths with the prosecution before so they are familiar with the tactics used by the prosecution.

I explained that not all cases go to court with a jury, that sometimes things are settled or arranged before going into court. There is a lot of work that goes into being a criminal defense lawyer and she was so interested in it. Maybe she will go to be one but I don’t think that she will. god bless her next week she will have moved on to something else. As I said I learned more than I knew when we were researching.

Victoria asked if after the trial is over if that was it for the lawyer. Sometimes that is the end for a lawyer. A lot times though there are appeals to be filed and other procedures. It is never as easy and as similar as they make it look on the television.

I love when any of the kids ask questions like these because it shows me how huge their thirst for knowledge is. She heard criminal defense lawyer on the news and that led to the questions. We had a discussion that I learned just as much from. I never want to discourage her from learning and that is why I do my best to answer any and all questions.

DO YOUR CHILDREN ASK QUESTIONS THAT YOU KNOW BUT DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER TO? WHAT DO YOU DO? PLEASE LET YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS.