If you are currently facing felony charges in the State of Nebraska, you are (hopefully) worried about the outcome of your case given the consequences of a felony conviction in today’s society. A felony conviction, regardless of the circumstances, will likely have far-reaching, and long-lasting consequences for you. As such, you are probably trying to figure out what you can do to prevent a conviction. For example, you may be wondering if a felony attorney can get the charges against you reduced or even dismissed altogether. The only way to know with any degree of certainty what a felony attorney can do to help you is to consult with one as soon as possible. In the meantime, however, it might help to gain a better understanding of the criminal justice system in general, and how criminal defense attorney work within that system.
The American Criminal Justice System
The American government is a federalist system, meaning we have both a strong centralized government and numerous smaller semi-autonomous governments in the form of state governments. As a result, we also have dual justice systems – one federal and the other state. Within both the state and the federal justice system are also divided into two – a civil system and a criminal system. Regardless of whether you are facing federal or state charges for a violation of a criminal law, however, the prosecution has the burden of proving you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. What that means is that, in theory, the defense is not required to do anything. If the prosecution cannot meet its burden, you should not be convicted.
The Role of a Felony Attorney
Because people often know very little about the criminal justice system, people are often consequently under mistaken beliefs regarding the role of a criminal defense attorney within that system. The job of a felony attorney is not to prove you innocent. Instead, his/her job is to prevent the prosecution from meeting its burden of proving you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There are numerous ways in which your attorney might accomplish this goal. One way is to challenge evidence the prosecution plans to rely on at trial. For example, if the police conducted a warrantless search and seizure your attorney might challenge the search and try to exclude any evidence seized as a result of that search.
How Might Your Charges Get Reduced?
If you are charged with a felony, a dismissal of all charges would be the best possible result. Sometimes, however, that is simply not likely to happen. When that is the case, getting your felony charges reduced to a misdemeanor would certainly be better than being convicted of a felony. Of course, you might decide to take you case to trial; however, if the outcome of that trial is far from certain, other options are certainly worth considering. Your felony attorney might be able to get your felony reduced in one of two ways:
- Arguing the evidence – sometimes the prosecutor who initially filed the charges was a little overzealous and, consequently, over-charged you. If that was the case, your Nebraska felony attorney might be able to argue the lack of evidence to the prosecutor handling the case and convince him/her to reduce the charges.
- Negotiating a plea agreement – the other option involves plea negotiations. If a conviction is far from certain, the prosecuting attorney might be amenable to a plea of guilty to a lesser charge in return for dismissing the more serious felony charge. That way the prosecuting attorney gets a conviction but you avoid the more devastating felony conviction.
If you are facing a felony charge in the State of Nebraska, be sure to consult with an experienced Nebraska felony attorney right away to find out what options you may have that could avoid a felony conviction.
Contact Us
If you have been charged with a felony offense in the State of Nebraska it is certainly in your best interest to consult with an experienced Nebraska felony attorney right away. In Nebraska contact Petersen Criminal Defense Law 24 hours a day at 402-509-8070 to discuss your case with an experienced criminal defense attorney.
Attorney Petersen was invited to join the National Advocacy for DUI Defense (NAFDD) organization in 2013. NAFDD vets thousands of lawyers and only chooses those who have achieved stellar results in DUI defense cases. Attorney Petersen was named one of the Top 50 defense attorneys in Nebraska out of more than 5,000.
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