Constitutional Issues in Philadelphia Criminal Cases
Constitutional issues are very common in Philadelphia cases at both the pre-trial, trial and post-trial levels. Some examples of constitutional issues and the way an experienced Philadelphia criminal defense attorney challenges the commonwealth is in the form of motions in limine to exclude certain evidence, motions to suppress, this is evidence that was unlawfully obtained by police, motions to suppress statements which may or may not have been done in a voluntary way by your client, motions to preclude use of a client’s prior record and motions to sever cases from other cases that might be prejudicial.
At the trial and post-trial level, constitutional issues are even more common. They exist for example when there’s a motion to allow cross examination of witnesses pursuant to the confrontation clause, motions to allow DNA to be excluded, motions to prevent the use of unqualified experts, and motions to prevent the use of fingerprints without significant contact under both state and federal law.
How Can These Constitutional Issues Impact The Case?
These constitutional issues impact the case because they determine upon the resolution of such motion whether or not certain evidence will be admitted in a particular case. Evidence obtained in an unlawful fashion which violates both article 1 section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution or the 4thand 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution cannot be used against an individual at any criminal proceeding if it was obtained in an unlawful fashion.
Another example is evidence that was obtained in an unlawful fashion, any evidence that follows such evidence can be argued to be the fruit of the poisonous tree. As a result, all evidence that followed the obtaining of unlawful evidence is also suppressed or dismissed from a case.
Under constitutional grounds, a case can be won before it’s even tried because it is the goal of an experienced criminal defense attorney to remove any obstacles and gaining an advantage at trial and the most common obstacles are constitutional violations.
Is It Common For People to Know When They’re Being Investigated For a Criminal Offense?
In some cases an individual is told by the federal government with the use of a target letter or target communication that they’re the subject of a police investigation.
On the local level, it is often very difficult to determine that and so a warrant for arrest is normally. Once that occurs, you should contact an experienced criminal defense attorney to make a decision on how a person should go about resolving the open warrant against them. Otherwise, it could be very difficult to determine whether you’re being investigated.
Is it Important to Contact a Lawyer at This Stage?
Absolutely. The most important thing you can do if you feel you are being investigated for a crime is contact an experienced Philadelphia criminal defense attorney so that that he/she can use their resources at that outset to try to investigate what it is you’re being investigated for and advice you properly on what you can and cannot do in order to protect your rights.
What is The Benefit of Hiring An Aggressive Philadelphia Criminal Lawyer?
Hiring an aggressive Philadelphia criminal lawyer assures a number of things. First, having a person in your corner at all times. The system is not a pleasant experience to be involved in and having an experienced criminal defense attorney aggressively on your side makes an individual feel more empowered.
Next, an experienced criminal defense attorney will aggressively review an individual’s case and the specific details of an arrest. By evaluating it and locating weaknesses in the prosecution’s case, by rebutting witnesses testimony, attacking blood and DNA results, and in particular attacking the use of commonwealth experts, by using defense experts, these are only some of the very many ways that an aggressive Philadelphia criminal defense attorney fights for their clients.
What is The Benefit of Hiring An Experienced Philadelphia Criminal Lawyer?
The benefit to hiring an experienced criminal lawyer is that you’re hiring an attorney who is familiar with the local Philadelphia courts, the local Philadelphia judges, the local Philadelphia prosecutors, and the way they move cases through the system. It’s the personal guidance and the highly qualified level of representation along with the knowledge of how the system works that gets results.
Doing this for over two decades, allows me and my firm to comfortably use our resources to assure the best result at any criminal case.