The primary defense in Criminal Defense is often insufficient evidence for conviction. This may result from overzealous police/prosecutors, false accusations for personal gain, or being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
One common question is if you can still face prosecution for an offense. These inquiries often arise when individuals fear their actions may constitute a crime, leading them to seek legal advice urgently.
One of the most puzzling defenses in Criminal Law is Mistake of Fact. The defendant isn't guilty if lacking intent or the mental state needed due to a reasonable lack of knowledge or mistaken belief in a fact. If the defendant's actions would have been lawful based on their reasonable belief, no crime was committed.
This could occur through various means, like a violation of your Miranda Warning or an illegal search and seizure by the police of you or your property. These are known as “technical” defenses, as they challenge specific evidence admissibility rather than proving innocence.
In some sex cases, a common defense is not believing the person was underage. For instance, in PC 647.6(a)(1) cases, the prosecutor must prove you knew the person was underage beyond a reasonable doubt. This can be shown through direct evidence like a text where the minor mentions their age, or circumstantial evidence like the minor looking young or mentioning they are in middle school. A reasonable mistake about the minor's age can be a complete defense to a charge.
If you believed the person consented to the sexual act you performed, you may not be guilty of the alleged crime. For instance, in cases like PC 289, if you reasonably thought the other party had consented, it must be a reasonable belief.
This defense doesn't absolve you if you were intoxicated while committing a crime. It applies if you're under the influence of substances you didn't choose to consume. Intoxication from voluntary consumption may act as a defense for "Specific Intent" crimes as it can negate the intent to commit the crime.
Insanity is complex, but we'll cover its importance in California Criminal Defense.
Legal insanity means:
- Having a mental disease or defect when committing the crime
- Being unable to know the nature of your act or that it was wrong.
Entrapment happens when police push a crime through overbearing behavior. For instance, if an undercover officer repeatedly persuades someone to commit a crime, they might be entrapping them. The police must be the ones initiating the idea, not the defendant, to use this defense successfully.
To use the defense of Necessity, you must demonstrate committing a crime in an emergency to prevent significant harm to yourself or others.
In California, you can use force if you believe it's necessary to defend yourself from immediate harm. Essentially, you have the right to fight back when threatened. The force used must be proportionate to the danger. For instance, if someone pushes you, you can't go get a chainsaw. If someone hits you, you can hit back in self-defense.
When you obtain property believing it's yours or you had permission, you're under a claim of right. This defense can negate intent for theft crimes. If your belief, even mistaken, is in good faith, it may count unless completely unreasonable due to known facts. For instance, taking a car for a test drive and keeping it forever isn't reasonable.
You cannot be convicted of a crime if done under duress. This occurs when, due to a threat, you believed your or someone else's life was in immediate danger if you didn't commit the crimes. For instance, if told your family is kidnapped and will be harmed unless you rob a bank, you acted under duress fearing for their lives.
False accusations are not a legal defense in criminal law. It involves someone falsely accusing you of a crime you didn't commit. You claim innocence despite the accuser. In other defenses in California law, guilt is acknowledged but with a technical defense preventing conviction.
Why would an innocent person confess to a crime? It happens more often than you think, often due to overbearing police conduct. A coerced confession is when someone involuntarily admits to a crime because of the police's behavior.
