White-collar crime allegations can threaten nearly every aspect of your life. Incarceration might become a real possibility, threatening to rip you from your family and your normal life, and it can leave you with a criminal record that derails your career, renders it difficult to find and hold a job, and makes it hard to obtain desirable housing.
With so much on the line, you might be stressed and worried about your future, especially if the evidence doesn’t look good for you. But even when the deck seems stacked against you, there might be criminal defense options that give you the opportunity to fight back against the prosecution and the harsh penalties that they’re threatening against you.
Strong criminal defense strategies when facing white-collar crime allegations
Depending on the facts of your case, you might have one or more criminal defense options available to you. Here are some of the most powerful defense strategies that you could be able to implement in your case:
- Lack of intent: Many white-collar crimes require the prosecution to show that you intentionally committed the act in question before a conviction can be obtained. In many instances, though, the accused individual simply made a mistake that has been misconstrued as a criminal act. If you can show an honest mistake, then you might be able to beat your charges. Merely showing that you benefitted from the act in question is insufficient to obtain a conviction.
- Coercion: If you were forced to commit a criminal act under threat of violence or some other significant harm, then you can show that you otherwise wouldn’t have committed the crime except for that coercion. Successfully showing this could lead to an acquittal.
- Entrapment: Undercover officers oftentimes play a significant role in white-collar crime investigations and prosecutions. While using these officers and their testimony is allowable under the law, you might be able to avoid conviction if you can successfully show that you would not have committed the crime in question if you hadn’t been influenced by a government official. This can be difficult to demonstrate, but it’s an avenue to explore if undercover agents are key to the prosecution’s case.
- Lack of witness credibility: The prosecution is going to heavily lean on witness testimony to present its case against you. But if those witnesses are untrustworthy, then you need to show that to the jury. Otherwise, you could end up convicted based on false or misleading testimony. There are many ways to attack witness credibility, so be diligent here to find the strategy that gives your criminal defense the most leverage.
- Inability to meet the legal elements: Before a conviction can be obtained, the prosecution must prove each element of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. In many white-collar crime cases, the prosecution struggles to prove key elements of the offense in question. Therefore, you’ll want to analyze your charges carefully and pick through the evidence as to each element with a fine-tooth comb. You might be able to avoid conviction by simply showing that the prosecution hasn’t met its burden.
Don’t give into the prosecution’s case
Some people who have been accused of a white-collar crime feel defeated. As such, they struggle to muster up the courage and the energy to aggressively fight the charges that have been levied against them.
But don’t be afraid to stand up to aggressive prosecutors. After all, your future is on the line. With that in mind, now is the time to diligently prepare your criminal defense so that you maximize the chances that you’ll beat the prosecution and protect your future as much as possible.