Public Defender, Private Lawyer or Defending Yourself in a Criminal Case, Which is Best?

There are very experienced public defenders in the system that if a person does not have the financial capability of hiring a private attorney, they can be a good avenue and a good source for certain people. The problem is that many public defenders are overburdened and overwhelmed with the number of cases that they have but they can’t give your case proper attention. Additionally, the way the criminal justice system is set up, because of the heavy volume of cases and the heavy volume of people represented by the public defender’s office, it’s rare that a public defender will stay with their case from start to finish, usually there are public defenders that handle the first appearances, otherwise known as the arraignment and then the case is handed off to another public defender and so on and so forth throughout the process. The problem with that is there’s never any real investment, meaning full knowledge and ownership of a case and the person’s situation, by the attorney. It’s never a good idea to represent yourself. There are too many intricacies in the rules of evidence, of changing laws and the way to properly defend a case to have a person, even if they have legal experience, to represent themselves. Furthermore, any communications with prosecutors, investigators, statements in court is there made by the actual defendant, they will be used, twisted and manipulated by those prosecuting the person to benefit them as much as possible to ensure conviction. If you have the right private lawyer with the right type of experience and knowledge, you can prevent those types of mistakes from really handicapping the defense of the person. You want someone who has full knowledge and experience of the system, the process, the law, and how to properly and aggressively defend you right from the beginning. Things like bail, defenses that need to be prepared, the proper procedures and way in which to guide the defense through the process in order to get the best result, which hopefully and ultimately from the outset, should be a way in which to get the charges dismissed and proper police conduct that could take place. All of those things need to be examined right from the get go, so it’s important to get an aggressive, thorough and experienced private defense attorney, if possible, to get on board right away.