Developing a defense against a criminal charge can be difficult. The person accused often hires an attorney to help them look at the state’s evidence and find weaknesses in the prosecution’s case. Typically, the defense team only needs to establish a reasonable doubt about whether someone actually broke the law or not to avoid a conviction.
Frequently, defense strategies focus on excluding evidence, providing alibis or showing that the state made mistakes when gathering or reviewing evidence. Defense attorneys may bring in expert witnesses to generate questions about the credibility of the evidence or how the state interpreted it. However, sometimes the state has a relatively strong case against a defendant. In such circumstances, an affirmative defense strategy might be the most effective option available.
What is an affirmative defense?
When a lawyer establishes an affirmative defense, they don’t try to prove that someone else broke the law or that no incident occurred. Instead, their goal is to change the narrative around the alleged crime. What might be a homicide or assault in some circumstances could be a clear-cut case of self-defense in others. Affirmative defenses rely on nuances within the law that establish extenuating circumstances. Claims of acting in self-defense or while under duress are among the more common affirmative defense strategies used in Texas.
People can also work with lawyers to establish that they may have had diminished mental capacity at the time of an incident. Diminished capacity does not refer to voluntary intoxication but rather a state of temporary insanity or the consequence of mental health challenges that prevent someone from comporting themselves as a rational person would.
An affirmative defense is often the best option available in scenarios where there is compelling, authoritative evidence connecting someone to criminal activity. Instead of trying to challenge the evidence or undermine it, the best defense strategy may be to re-frame the evidence and raise questions about whether the circumstances may have justified behavior that could otherwise be a crime.
Planning a strong criminal defense strategy requires an understanding of the law and of the evidence the prosecutor intends to present at trial. Partnering with the right professionals can improve a defendant’s chances of benefiting from a thoughtful criminal defense strategy accordingly.