Michigan Domestic Violence Carries With it a Right of Cross-Examination
- But What Exactly Does That Mean?
Michigan Domestic Violence Trial - it's YOUR turn to make them answer
YOUR questions![/caption] So you're charged with a
Michigan Domestic Violence
crime. If you take your Michigan Domestic Violence case to Trial, your
Domestic Violence defense lawyer will have the opportunity to "cross-examine"
the police officer that requested the Michigan Domestic Violence charges
be brought against you. But what does that mean? How can it help you get
a verdict of NOT GUILTY? Note that under the
Michigan Domestic Violence law, MCL 750.81, the actual name of the charge is a Michigan Domestic Assault. Under the
Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, every person accused of a crime,
including Michigan Domestic Violence, is entitled to, among other things,
a fair Trial, a competent attorney, and the right to confront and "cross-examine"
the witnesses against him or her. To "cross-examine" is where your
Michigan Domestic Violence
Defense attorney asks questions of the government witnesses to help tell
the story of your defense. In a Michigan Domestic Violence trial, those
witnesses fall into two main categories:
1)
your accuser and other civilians; and
2)
police witness. The cross-examination of your accuser in a Michigan Domestic
Violence case is your lawyer's opportunity to demonstrate, through
carefully constructed questioning, that he or she is lying, mistaken,
or has other motivations (such as gaining child custody, winning control
at home, hiding their own violent behavior) behind their accusations against
you and that, for those reasons, the jury should distrust them and find
you NOT GUILTY. The cross-examination of the police witnesses who investigated
and arrested you for Michigan Domestic Violence is your Michigan Domestic
Violence lawyer's opportunity, also through very carefully conceived
questioning, to show that because their investigation was likely biased
from the start, their conclusion that you violated the Michigan Domestic
Violence law cannot be trusted. It's "garbage in, garbage out."
This is YOUR opportunity to question the cops who questioned you, locked
you up, and contributed to the past few months (and perhaps the next few
years) of your life having a dark cloud hanging over it. The point is
to show that because of their possible bias, the flood gates were opened
up for the lies of a false accuser to be accepted as truth. But in a Michigan
Domestic Violence case, what are some points that an experienced Michigan
Domestic Violence defense lawyer should bring out during the cross-examination
of the Police Officers to help achieve a verdict of NOT GUILTY? Here are
just a few:
- The cops presumed you guilty before they even arrived. Because of this, they ignored any and all evidence that you were actually innocent of Michigan Domestic Violence.
- The cops have a wireless microphone on their body that is supposed to be turned on to accurately record exactly what was said so that it can be examined for evidence and fairness by you, your Michigan Domestic Violence defense attorney, the prosecutor, the Judge and the jury. The cops may have intentionally: a) not turned their microphone on (claiming it "malfunctioned" or the "battery died") so that they could write whatever they wanted to make you look guilty of Michigan Domestic Violence and there would be no credible evidence to prove them wrong; or b) hid the recordings and didn't submit them into evidence, even though an actual recording is much better evidence of the truth than their one-sided "Police Report."
- That as a Police Officer, they have expectations required of them to make an arrest whenever someone is accused of a Michigan Domestic Violence crime. These expectations are what influenced your arrest, but they have nothing to do with what really happened.
- That as a Police Officer, they know they are supposed to simply be "neutral and unbiased" fact-finders, but that's not how they investigated your case.
- That because they weren't there, thy have no idea what the hellhappened ordidn't happen between you and your accuser. When they arrested you, they had no idea whether you actually committed Michigan Domestic Violence, and when they sat to write their Report, their main goal was not to tell the truth, but to justify the decision they just made to lock a citizen up in Jail.
- That many Police Officers believe that due to their line of work, they are "better" at figuring out the truth than the average citizen. Really, Officer? In reality, without actually witnessing the alleged Michigan Domestic Violence crime they are arresting a person for, they have no possible way to say "yup, we got it right that time!"