What Can New Jersey (NJ) Criminal Lawyers and Attorneys Achieve?  

If you’ve got to hire criminal attorneys or defense lawyers in New Jersey, you’re going to need to know that they can achieve success.  The last thing you want is to be charged with a criminal felony or other crime, especially if the consequences involve years of imprisonment or worse.  But what exactly can an NJ criminal attorney achieve?

Well, first of all, they can completely get you off—one of the top achievements any NJ criminal defense lawyer is to convince the judge or jury that their client is completely innocent.  Of course, this is going to take a lot of work.  You’re going to have to be completely honest with your lawyer, telling him or her everything you remember about the incident.  Your lawyer or team of lawyers (depending on how extensive your defense is) will also need to be ready to do some research and interview all of the involved parties.  NJ criminal law can be complex, especially if you’re facing charges of murder or worse, so your lawyer is going to have to be ready to spend hours doing work on your case.  He or she is also going to need to have a prepared list of questions for all witnesses involved.

However, if your lawyer does his or her job correctly, the judge and jury will be swayed, and you’ll find your defense team has achieved the top goal of any attorney: victory.  The problem, of course, is that no matter how great your lawyers may be it might not be possible to achieve a win.  If you’re being charged with drunk driving, for example, even the top New Jersey DUI lawyer may not be able to get you off without any punishment at all.  What do you hope for in this case?

If a total win is simply not something your lawyer can achieve, he or she may talk to you about a reduced sentence.  This can mean a lot of things.  You may be able to reduce your prison time, or your lawyer may even be able to have that sentence deferred.  In that case, you’ll simply be on probation for a certain amount of time, which is a great achievement in some cases.  Your attorney may even be able to get some charges completely dropped, especially if your case is unusual or features some evidence that seems questionable.  In any case, while it may not be the outcome you really want, having your sentence deferred or reduced may be the best achievement your attorney can get. 

As you can see, criminal defense attorneys can achieve several different outcomes from each case.  The best outcome is to have you cleared of all charges, and that is what your attorney should strive to achieve.  However, if that’s not a possible achievement, then getting a reduced sentence is certainly preferable to the alternative.  No matter what, know that your defense attorney did all he or she could to achieve the best possible outcome for you.