When you’ve been accused of a crime, it’s understandable to seek out friends and family. In times of great stress and anxiety, family and friends can provide comfort, solace, and guidance during your challenges.
But that doesn’t mean you should tell them about your criminal case.
Establishing a Solid Defense
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” you may already have an understanding of the importance of keeping your legal defense strategy a mystery even to the people you care about.
It needs to be stressed here that keeping quiet about your criminal case does not necessarily have anything to do with any actual guilt of the parties in question. If you’ve been accused of a crime, the burden of proof falls upon the prosecutors; in the eyes of the law, you are innocent until proven guilty, and they have to prove that guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Unfortunately, sharing information about the crime in question with friends and loved ones can create unexpected threats to maintaining that innocence. While the prosecution does have to obey the law in how they proceed with their legal arguments, they can use every piece of information they can legally obtain to further their legal arguments, including information gathered from your friends and family members.
Conversations May Not Be Private
For example, suppose you are in jail while awaiting trial and a family member comes to visit you. Law enforcement can listen to and record any conversation you have with that family member, and that information could be used to further the prosecution’s case against you. So if you and the family member end up having a detailed conversation about the crime in question, the prosecution might be able to use the details of the conversation in their case.
Even if you have not been incarcerated pending a trial, any recordings, text messages, e-mails, or phone conversations can legally be obtained by the prosecution and used to further their case against you.
Keeping Family and Friends Safe
It’s also possible that, by sharing the details of your criminal, you could accidentally make your family and friends unintentionally responsible for your defense.
For example, if you share a sensitive detail about a criminal charge with a friend, law enforcement could learn about the conversation, leading to the friend being summoned to share the information. While the detail in question might be a vital bit of truth that could prove your innocence, sharing it with a friend has now made them an unwilling participant in your legal defense, a position nobody wants to find themselves without their own legal representation.
Let Us Help
No matter the crime, you has the right for your case to be heard in a court of law and a the right to a lawyer to defend you. But it’s so important to have legal representation with the experience to create a criminal defense strategy that gives you the best possible outcome. David Clarke has that experience. He has handled many criminal defense cases including DUI cases in the Murfreesboro area.
Remember your friends and family can be a comfort to you without having to know all the details of your case. In fact it is better for you and them not to get involved that way. Discuss your case only with your lawyer.
To learn more about how your rights and protections when being accused of a crime, contact the Clarke Law Firm today.
