If you have been charged with a crime, there are a number of defenses that may be used to try and prove your innocence. While not all defenses may be applicable to every case, it is important to be aware of the various defenses that exist if you have been charged with a crime. An experienced Indianapolis criminal defense lawyer can help to protect your rights and advise you about what defenses are most applicable to your case. Here, we will explore some of the most common defenses used in criminal law.
Alibi Defense
An alibi defense is a tactic used to deny that you committed the crime by providing evidence that you were somewhere else when the crime was committed. There are a few ways in which you can try to prove this. First, you can have witnesses testify that you were elsewhere when the crime occurred. Second, you can provide time-stamped images or videos of you at a different location when the crime occurred. Last, you can provide documentation such as receipts, transactions, or travel itinerary. The goal of alibi defense is to prove that you could not have possibly committed the crime because you were not at the scene when the incident occurred.
Innocence Defense
The next type of defense is perhaps one of the most common types. Innocence defense involves simply stating that you are not guilty of the crime. By using this defense you do not have to prove anything since the burden of proof should lie within the prosecution, if there truly was a crime that you committed.
Self-Defense
Self-defense is another type of defense that may be used in criminal law, particularly with assault, battery, and murder. This defense is used to prove that your actions were justified given the circumstances. However, the way in which you responded must be within reason.
Duress Defense
In extreme circumstances, duress can be used as a defense in criminal law. The defense is used when the defendant is coerced to commit a crime due to immediate threat of death or serious injury. For example, if an individual is held at gunpoint and is forced to commit the crime in order to escape death, this may be a valid defense.
Statute of Limitations
Oftentimes, there will be a statute of limitations which require charges to be brought forth within a certain period of time. In the event that the prosecutor brings charges against the defendant after the specified period of time, the defendant may argue that the case should be dismissed since it violates the statute of limitations. It is important to note that statutes of limitations vary in each state and are dependent on the type of crime committed.
Intoxication
One last commonly used defense is intoxication. More specifically, involuntary intoxication, in which you were unknowingly drugged, can be used to help prove that the intoxication prevented you from determining right from wrong. On the other hand, voluntary intoxication, in which you willinging drank alcohol or took drugs, is a very hard defense to prove.
