Seattle Criminal Attorney | Bench Trial or Jury Trial?

So you've been accused of a misdeed. Maybe a DUI, perhaps an mugging, possibly a theft. And the prosecutor isn't providing you anything you feel at ease accepting as a plea bargain. Your Seattle criminal attorney informs you the lone option, if you do not care for the tender, is a trial.

You're okay with that, but are slightly uncertain concerning the minutiae. In particular, you aren't positive if you ought to demand a jury trial or request a bench trial. Your Seattle criminal attorney is promoting a jury trial, but you simply don't know if you can rely on a team of people you do not know to make the just verdict.

Selecting between a jury trial or a bench trial (where the judge makes the decision of your guilt or innocence) can at times be complicated. Let's look at a pair of scenarios that might require you to go one way or another.

To start with, the jury trial. Seattle DUI attorneys like jury trials since jurors frequently are not as worn-out as judges (they've heard plenty of excuses over the years and start to stop attempting to discover the disparity). They struggle rigorously to do the correct thing and will habitually grant you at least a fighting opportunity. But they can be unpredictable as well.

You frequently desire a criminal jury trial when the state of affairs is fairly unsupported, when you possess some inconsistencies in the facts that just don't make sense, and when you require the fact finder to give you the benefit of the doubt. Juries are capable of doing this. With judges it's slightly more complex.

After that, the bench trial. You habitually like to have these when you possess a exceedingly technical defense, the specifics of the case are exceptionally awful (the jury will almost be guaranteed to be hostile to you from the beginning), or you are going to base your argument on a legal issue that you imagine the judge will comprehend better than a jury. This also is a crap shoot, as judges, while not unpredictable, have a propensity to lean toward the prosecution.

In the end, the choice to go jury trial or bench trial ought to most likely be completed by your Seattle criminal attorney. They have the skill to understand which one to utilize, and they know the intricacy of the choice. No matter which you choose, though, it's in all probability going to be an uphill fight. Good luck!