The evidence against you in your criminal case might feel insurmountable, but you shouldn’t simply give in and accept a plea deal without first analyzing your criminal defense options. After all, you might be able to effectively use defense strategies to prevent the prosecution from using damaging evidence against you. This is known as evidence suppression, and it can be crucial to your defense. If you’re successful in blocking the prosecution’s evidence, then you can quickly derail their case against you, thereby increasing your chances of securing dismissed charges or an acquittal.
But suppressing evidence requires knowledge of the law and effective use of the rules of evidence. It’s therefore best to discuss your specific strategy with your criminal defense attorney. That said, in the remainder of this post we want to give you a general idea of when evidence is suppressible, that way you know when you might have a shot at preventing harmful evidence from being used against you.
Situations that may warrant evidence suppression
There are multiple mistakes that can be made by law enforcement and prosecutors that can lead to successful evidence suppression. Here are some of the most common:
- Illegal traffic stop: The police have to have reasonable suspicion that you’ve committed a crime or a traffic offense before they can stop you. If they don’t, then a traffic stop may be deemed illegally conducted. And if that’s the case, then anything that comes afterwards, including a search and seizure, will be considered tainted by that same illegality. This can lead to evidence suppression, even if the evidence collected is incriminating.
- Invalid warrant: A legally issued search warrant is one that is supported by probable cause and is specific in the place to be searched. If the police misconstrue the facts or outright lie about what they know to secure a warrant, then you can attack its validity and legality. If it’s subsequently determined that a warrant was illegally secured, then you can block any evidence that was gathered because of its use.
- Misuse of a warrant exception: A lot of searches are conducted without a warrant pursuant to one of a number of exceptions. But there are strict rules that must be followed and specific circumstances that must exist before a warrant exception can be used. So, be sure to scrutinize the specific exception that was relied upon in your case to see if the police misapplied it. If they did, then you’ll be in a strong position to suppress any evidence that was subsequently seized.
- Chain of custody errors: Before evidence can be submitted at trial, its proponent must provide reasonable assurances that the evidence is what they claim it to be. If there were mistakes in the collection, transportation, storage or testing of that evidence, then you might successfully argue that it’s been compromised and therefore isn’t trustworthy. This could convince a judge to block that evidence from being presented against you.
Fight to protect your freedom and your future in your criminal case
A poorly handled criminal defense can lead to bad outcomes, including incarceration. Therefore, you need to carefully analyze all your defense options and aggressively pursue those that are right for your set of circumstances. By doing so, you’ll hopefully beat back the prosecution’s allegations, defeat the charges levied against you and put this frightening chapter of your life behind you. If you’d like more information about how to build an effective criminal defense, then please continue to read up on common defense strategies.
