Finance and Law

How Does a State Attorney Decide Which Crimes to Charge

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;benefits-hiring-criminal-attorney&sol;">might have been arrested<&sol;a>&comma; but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to be charged&period; Police officers in Florida and other states are trained to identify and articulate probable cause for crimes&comma; but they often make errors that may lead to the charges being dropped by the assistant state attorney &lpar;ASA&rpar;&period; For a case to be prosecuted&comma; the state attorney must believe that there is a legitimate chance for successful prosecution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">What Makes a Criminal Case Valid<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In most cases&comma; the state attorney is not on scene or in contact with officers at the time of the arrest&period; There are exceptions&comma; of course&period; It’s not uncommon for detectives to communicate with the state attorney while developing a case for a major crime&comma; like homicide&comma; sexual battery&comma; or kidnapping&period; In most instances&comma; though&comma; the police rely on their training and knowledge of the statutes to arrest and book suspected criminals&period; When the state attorney receives the package&comma; they review the probable cause affidavit&comma; the police report&comma; and evidence of crimes&period; They’re evaluating the package to measure the strength of the case and to detect any errors in the execution of the case&period; Here are some of the common reasons that a state attorney may decline a case&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Invalid Stop<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Police officers must have a valid reason to stop a vehicle or a person on the street&period; Some of these reasons include&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&NewLine;<li>Witnessing a traffic violation<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Observing the commission of a crime<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Articulable suspicious behavior<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>A valid warrant<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>An authorized checkpoint<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Observing a weapon<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>A citizen tip<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If the police didn’t have a valid reason for a stop&comma; a qualified defense attorney could get the charges dropped or easily beat them in court&period; Prosecutors will generally decline this type of case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Illegal Search<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The police cannot search you without a warrant or one of the warrant exceptions&period; Those include a search of your person and immediate surroundings after an arrest&comma; a tow inventory of your vehicle&comma; exigent circumstances &lpar;usually because someone is in danger&rpar;&comma; a search of your person on suspicion that you have a weapon&comma; and a few others&period; If the search was illegal&comma; any evidence uncovered are <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;law&period;cornell&period;edu&sol;wex&sol;fruit&lowbar;of&lowbar;the&lowbar;poisonous&lowbar;tree" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">fruits of the poisonous tree<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Violation of Miranda Rights<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you’re in police custody&comma; then they must read you the Miranda Warning before questioning you&period; You&comma; of course&comma; can refuse to answer questions and&sol;or ask for an attorney&comma; at which point&comma; they must stop&period; Violations of your rights could invalidate the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Lack of Evidence<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In some cases&period;the police may charge a crime but fail to secure witness statements&period; On DUI investigations&comma; a camera malfunction may delete the video evidence&period; There are many ways that evidence may either be lost&comma; damaged&comma; or made otherwise inadmissible&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">There was No Criminal Act<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Surprisingly&comma; people are arrested when they didn’t commit a crime&period; Police understanding of the law is often less than perfect&comma; and occasionally&comma; they arrest someone for an incident that they think was illegal&comma; but isn’t&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Criminal Defense – The Other Side of the Coin<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Just as the state attorney will scrutinize a criminal case against you to make sure that it’s prosecutable&comma; a criminal defense lawyer will be looking for the same errors and omissions&period; In many instances&comma; an inexperienced prosecutor may miss things that a seasoned criminal defense lawyer&comma; like <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;strolenylaw&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Miami criminal defense attorney Stroleny<&sol;a>&comma; wouldn’t&period; If you’ve been arrested for a crime&comma; contact a criminal defense lawyer immediately&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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