Building a Defense For Gun Charges in Maryland

Gun charges in Maryland are taken very seriously and should be dealt with with a proper defense as soon as possible. The preparation for Maryland gun defense will depend upon whether the defendant is going to be testifying or not. If the defendant does not testify, then they really play a very little role. Other than standing up and maybe saying their name, they do not play a role but they will have a lot of input and can give a recitation of what they remember as best as they can.

If the individual is going to testify, then there is going to be significant preparation. A skilled Maryland gun lawyer can help build a defense to their client’s gun offense by employing strategies like simulating testimony and practicing cross-examination, helping their client to understand how to respond to the questions the prosecutor may ask. A lot of things may come out and be flushed out, but preparation will deal with how involved the individual will be in the trial itself and helping prepare what the witnesses may or may not say.

Refuting Evidence

Depending on the evidence, the approach changes for building a defense. If they pull fingerprints, commonly gun lawyers can employ their own experts. They want to see how close of a match it is. They are allowed to have independent testing done if we wish. If there are alibi witnesses or individuals that come forward, that could help a case with more specific information.

If an individual has someone who comes forward and says that, then that could help. Those are legitimate defenses. Now, if the person is caught with a gun in their pocket, it is a different story. Then, an attorney could argue that the search of the person, the seizure, or the finding of the gun was unlawful and that somehow their constitutional rights have been violated. There are various defense strategies for gun offenses in Maryland and each one can be unique, depending on the circumstance.

Strategies

As far as a trial is concerned, one of the biggest gun defense strategies in Maryland that an attorney will employ is to try to separate the individual from the gun and try to establish that. Attorneys do not have to prove that the gun was not theirs or the defendants. It is up to the prosecutor to prove that it was and all an attorney has to do is create doubt.

It is a lawyer’s job to create that doubt in the eyes of the jury such that they cannot convict the individual, whether it is to address the fact that they cannot establish that the person was in possession or that the person in possession did not know about it because it was somewhere in the car or in the bag. If someone else put it there, one is a strategy of taking the constitutionality of a stop.

There are a lot of variations and a lot of strategies that they can go for, depending on what type of situation the case presents exactly.