Working Criminal Defense Cases For years courtroom testimony of law enforcement personal was given much more weight than it is today.
With the rise of wrongful convictions and police misconduct, the courts are requiring more corroboration of facts and proof of evidence.
Also with the decline of the economic financial status, many law enforcement agencies are making cuts in the training of officer and in time allowed on an investigation.
As a defense criminal investigator, I am seeing more inadequate investigations or reckless investigations due to lack of police training, experience, or short cuts due to budgets cuts being tried in the criminal court system.
As a defense investigator there is an abundance of resources out there for you to use to prove the facts of the your case.
An in depth interview of your client (defendant) as to the facts prior to the event, during the event and after the event will often assisting in identifying other individuals associated that can also be interviewed.
This must be done even if the client has already given law enforcement a statement.
Often times the law enforcement interview will be centered on the actual event, and not the events leading up to and after the event.
Today almost every business has surveillance cameras.
Attempt to locate these cameras and not just the ones in the immediate area.
(Also search the areas outside the area where the actual event took place).
Attempt to review as many camera recordings as you are allowed by the business owners.
The things to look for are vehicles, vehicle license plates (possible witnesses and or other suspects).
Search for registered owners of any vehicles that are observed on these recordings.
Look at clothing description and or physical description matching your client.
Some times in the cases of sexual assault you may even have a video recording of your client and the alleged victim in a more intimate demeanor prior to the reported assault.
Today almost all law enforcement agencies post reported crimes on a web page.
Review these pages for similar type crimes and physical descriptions of the subjects.
Again in the case of a sexual assault check the site for registered sex offenders registered in the area.
Look for any possible similarities of physical description to your client and possible registered sex offenders.
During your investigation you should be provided discovery.
Discovery is the reports of the police investigation, photographs, recordings and items of evidence collected.
Carefully review these documents and even though law enforcement has done an investigation of these facts you should conduct an independent investigation of you own.
This includes interviewing any witnesses that have provided statements.
Background checks should be conducted on all witnesses and the victim.
Photographs should be carefully reviewed.
Look beyond what the photographer was attempting to show.
Sometimes you will be able to identify vehicle license plates or even other individuals as possible witnesses.
Look for other signs of evidence that law enforcement failed to collect or document.
Check for a report of an area canvas made for possible witnesses.
This is where officers are assigned to contact neighbors and attempt to interview them.
This should be noted in the police report included with the discovery.
Even when a person is contacted and has no knowledge of the crime this should be noted.
Sometimes the lack of knowledge is evidence the assault did not occur as reported.
A phrase often used in investigative work is "sometimes no evidence is evidence of absence".
In cases where there are no listed witness and the client has not been able to name any witness to the event, the investigator should go to the actual scene at the reported time the crime was alleged to have occurred.
Note any delivery type individuals, people coming and going from business, or homes.
Not everyone will come forward to assist with a criminal investigation and will have to be approached to obtain information.
The above investigative techniques are but just a few of the investigative methods used during a defense criminal investigation.
A professional defense criminal investigator will always be looking for ways to discover the facts of the case.
With the rise of wrongful convictions and police misconduct, the courts are requiring more corroboration of facts and proof of evidence.
Also with the decline of the economic financial status, many law enforcement agencies are making cuts in the training of officer and in time allowed on an investigation.
As a defense criminal investigator, I am seeing more inadequate investigations or reckless investigations due to lack of police training, experience, or short cuts due to budgets cuts being tried in the criminal court system.
As a defense investigator there is an abundance of resources out there for you to use to prove the facts of the your case.
An in depth interview of your client (defendant) as to the facts prior to the event, during the event and after the event will often assisting in identifying other individuals associated that can also be interviewed.
This must be done even if the client has already given law enforcement a statement.
Often times the law enforcement interview will be centered on the actual event, and not the events leading up to and after the event.
Today almost every business has surveillance cameras.
Attempt to locate these cameras and not just the ones in the immediate area.
(Also search the areas outside the area where the actual event took place).
Attempt to review as many camera recordings as you are allowed by the business owners.
The things to look for are vehicles, vehicle license plates (possible witnesses and or other suspects).
Search for registered owners of any vehicles that are observed on these recordings.
Look at clothing description and or physical description matching your client.
Some times in the cases of sexual assault you may even have a video recording of your client and the alleged victim in a more intimate demeanor prior to the reported assault.
Today almost all law enforcement agencies post reported crimes on a web page.
Review these pages for similar type crimes and physical descriptions of the subjects.
Again in the case of a sexual assault check the site for registered sex offenders registered in the area.
Look for any possible similarities of physical description to your client and possible registered sex offenders.
During your investigation you should be provided discovery.
Discovery is the reports of the police investigation, photographs, recordings and items of evidence collected.
Carefully review these documents and even though law enforcement has done an investigation of these facts you should conduct an independent investigation of you own.
This includes interviewing any witnesses that have provided statements.
Background checks should be conducted on all witnesses and the victim.
Photographs should be carefully reviewed.
Look beyond what the photographer was attempting to show.
Sometimes you will be able to identify vehicle license plates or even other individuals as possible witnesses.
Look for other signs of evidence that law enforcement failed to collect or document.
Check for a report of an area canvas made for possible witnesses.
This is where officers are assigned to contact neighbors and attempt to interview them.
This should be noted in the police report included with the discovery.
Even when a person is contacted and has no knowledge of the crime this should be noted.
Sometimes the lack of knowledge is evidence the assault did not occur as reported.
A phrase often used in investigative work is "sometimes no evidence is evidence of absence".
In cases where there are no listed witness and the client has not been able to name any witness to the event, the investigator should go to the actual scene at the reported time the crime was alleged to have occurred.
Note any delivery type individuals, people coming and going from business, or homes.
Not everyone will come forward to assist with a criminal investigation and will have to be approached to obtain information.
The above investigative techniques are but just a few of the investigative methods used during a defense criminal investigation.
A professional defense criminal investigator will always be looking for ways to discover the facts of the case.