Plea or Trial (Part 2)

The second consideration in this series of Plea Or Trial is your lawyer.

The problem with attorneys…

Anyone who has used an attorney could finish that sentence. Yet they are a necessity when in trouble with police and prosecutors. But within the context of police proactive sex stings, that sentence becomes –

The problem with attorneys is the one you have is likely not the one you need!

This is not a lawyer bashing statement. Lawyers understand the nuances of sex offense charges. They have valuable insight into what a judge, jury, and prosecutor all do, hear, think within sex offense charge cases. As soon as someone is charged in a police proactive sting, they rush out and hire an attorney to help them fight these sex offense charges.

BUT YOU NEED AN ENTRAPMENT ATTORNEY!!

The problem then becomes that once you understand the difference, you don’t have more funds available to switch to a lawyer willing and able to fight entrapment. Some people will say the attorney they have can do an entrapment defense, but then find out their attorney is not willing to fight the police.

Attorneys need their professional connections. Judges, lawyers, and police all have relationships necessary to maintain to do their jobs effectively. Fighting law enforcement in one case may jeopardize another case that relies on police cooperation. And attorneys live within the communities that these same police patrol.

So what should someone caught in a sting do in this situation? You need to decide if your lawyer is willing to fight LE. If not, you do not want to go to trial with that lawyer. Period. They may, however, get you a plea deal you can live with.

If unsure – we have a deposition questionnaire that lawyers fighting the civil rights case of entrapment *should* be comfortable asking. Here is an excerpt:

If your attorney balks at this, and you are wanting to go to trial, you need a new attorney. Try to discuss your needs and wants in this regard openly with your attorney. Yes, there are other defenses in these cases, we just haven’t seen any win at trial. Until we do, and because this is the strategy that worked in my son Jace’s case, this is what I suggest. Please do note here – I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY!! These thoughts are my own opinion and are based on my personal experience fighting, and finally winning, a police proactive sex sting case my son was entrapped in.

As a final note – in my opinion – never use a bench trial for a police proactive sex sting. We did use one in our first trial, and my son served 19 months in jail and prison because of it. Let me explain my thinking on this. In a sex sting case, the government has entrapped you – the chances of the government admitting they were wrong are extremely slim. Police bias is real! Using a bench trial, you are asking the government to pass judgment on what the government did to you. You need a jury of impartial people to hold the government’s actions up to the light.

Do not let the government decide if the government was right to entrap you!!