2 common ways to defend against a murder charge

 Posted on February 18, 2018 in Criminal Defense

When police accuse suspects of theft crimes, the accused faces serious offenses that could come with stiff penalties in the event of a conviction. However, a theft crime is nothing compared to the crime of murder in terms of potential consequences.

As such, if prosecutors have included a murder charge with your theft charges, you will want to take your criminal defense process very seriously. There are numerous legal strategies that might be available to a murder defendant.

Consider the potential of an insanity defense. If an individual kills another person, and he or she was insane at the time, or if he or she was not cognitively able to understand what he or she was doing or that it was wrong, then the defense of insanity could be suitable. The insanity defense is often supported by psychological expert witnesses who render their opinion as to the psychological state of the accused individual.

Some cases may include acts of justified homicide. In some situations, people are killed by those who are trying to defend themselves or others, and the act does not constitute murder. For example, if someone attacks you or tries to attack your friend, and you take action to prevent injury to yourself or your friend, it's considered self-defense. If the attacker dies while you are defending yourself, it's still self-self defense and it's not murder. That said, the court will need to confirm that you did not use an excessive level of force that was not appropriate given the circumstances.

Every person accused of a crime, no matter how grave, will be able to defend against the charges. If, for example, you were accused of stealing $10,000 dollars, you will have the right to make your case and have your day in court.

Furthermore, if you were accused of murder, you will also be able to formulate a criminal defense against the charges. That said, there are no guarantees of success when defending yourself against a crime. As such, you should always take great care when devising your criminal defense strategy.