You don’t have to be a criminal to find yourself drawn into a criminal investigation or grand-jury inquiry. In this great land, we are raised to believe that our system of checks and balances protect the innocent. We naively trust that the justice system will ferret out the truth. That is, until an innocent member of the general public becomes the target of a malicious victim, an overzealous or incompetent law enforcement officer, or a lazy or unscrupulous prosecutor. Then the system seems to go awry and the target, his family and close friends want to know how our great system failed.Michael Terribile, Phoenix criminal lawyer
People are convinced that the accused “must be guilty of something” or they would not have been targeted, investigated or arrested. However, our system fails because they have lost faith in the fundamental philosophy “innocent until proven guilty” and taxpayers desire to support a system that they don’t believe serves them has vanished. But, when we fail to adequately safeguard your constitutional rights, everyone is at risk. Is the system costly? Yes. Is it necessary? Yes.
A criminal defense lawyer’s role is to ensure that the entire system “plays by the rules”: that law enforcement doesn’t target innocent people, plant evidence or violate a person’s constitutional rights; that prosecutors don’t hide evidence or mislead jurors; and that the judiciary maintains its integrity, making difficult decisions even if they are unpopular. Effective defense lawyers maintain their belief and are passionate in their commitment to the fundamental principle upon which the system originally was design — innocent until proven guilty.
Take care to adequately support and fund your local criminal defense system. You want it be strong when you or a loved one needs it.
