Denver criminal defense lawyer / truth in advertising

Yesterday I mentioned the different ways you can be charged in the criminal justice system. Not only is this a necessary procedure, the right to know the charges against you isch a key right, like the right to a jury trial and the right to an attorney. That's because if you don't know what you are charged with and why going into the trial, your Denver criminal defense lawyer won't be able to properly defend you against those charges. Though this right isn't super complicated, it does have a few interesting ins and outs that you probably should know about.

First, like most crucial constitutional rights, it can be waived. If after talking to a Denver criminal defense lawyer, you decide a plea bargain is in your best interest, that's fine. You can even plead guilty to stuff you weren't originally charged with. What you don't want to do is plead guilty, then come back and claimed you weren't charged with the offenses for which you were convicted. First, you waived those rights. Second, you were apprised of those charges before the plea, which the courts consider good enough.

Next, simply telling you what statutes you're charged with a crime under is probably not enough to satisfy the right to be charged. After all, if somebody served you with papers stating you were accused of public intoxication, where would you even begin? How in the world would your Denver criminal defense lawyer go about preparing your case? Would you have any idea even what to contest? As such, the charging document needs to include some information about the facts that make up the case against you, along with the statute you violated. Otherwise the charge could be considered too vague, and any conviction might be thrown out.

Finally, even if you are charged with one thing, it is possibly to be convicted of another. Generally this is called a "lesser included offense." That occurs when all the elements or components of one crime are included within another. So first degree murder is the same as second degree murder, except with "malice." That means if a defendant is charged with second degree murder, he is assumed to be on notice to defend first degree murder. He should know if he only attacks the "malice" part, he's basically conceding guilt on second degree. So the charging requirement is satisfied.