Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

what happens if you go to trial for robbing a bar but you didn't do it for sure and they don't have any physical evidence but witnesses and the witnesses stories don't really go with each other.


Asked on 9/02/09, 11:59 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Robert Marshall Law Office of Robert L, Marshall

What happens? The same thing that happens in any trial: the prosecution puts on its case, then the defense, and the jury decides if the prosecution has proven you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

A jury can convict if they find just one eyewitness credible. The DA wil argue that any differences in testimony are due to the stress of getting robbed.

No lawyer can assess the strength of the case against you with so little information. Your lawyer should have all of the evidence and is in a far better position to answer questions about the case, but cannot be sure what a jury will do.

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Answered on 9/02/09, 12:17 pm
Deirdre O'Connor Law Offices of Deirdre O'Connor

It all depends on how much your lawyer and the judge knows about faulty eyewitness identification and how skilled/inclined they are to properly educate the jury. A good lawyer does not just take the evidence that the prosecutor "gives" her. She will thoroughly investigate the case - very early in the case - and build a solid theory about how it is these witnesses came to select the wrong person - YOU. This could be due to bad police practice, prior exposure to your picture through the media, witnesses sharing information with one another, which often causes them to settle on the same suspect and leads witnesses to genuinely believe you were the assailant. There are many more aspects of identification process and the failings of human memory that can account for a misidentification case. That's why you need a lawyer with special knowledge and experience in eyewitness identification cases - and most importantly a lawyer with a solid trial record in misidentification cases.

Good luck.

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Answered on 9/02/09, 12:49 pm


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