Top 5 Legal Options If You’re Charged with Attempted Murder

Being charged with an attempted murder can be a life-altering event. You need to seek legal help to understand your immediate actionable steps.

Facing an attempted murder charge under California Penal Code 664/187 is terrifying and stressful. The penalties include jail for 5 to 7 years of life in state prison. This depends on the degree of murder.

In this article, we will discuss the top legal options that can be adopted if you are charged with attempted murder.

What Legal Options are There When Charged with Attempted Murder?

Here are the top five legal options that can be adopted in attempted murder charges.

Option 1: Proving Lack of Specific Intent to Kill

Under California law, you are not convicted of attempted murder if you have injured someone. What is required is adequate evidence of the ultimate intent to kill that person. Like, stabbing a person in the leg does not always indicate the intention of a murder but shooting that individual on the chest shows clearer intent.

Your attempted murder defense lawyer will try to prove that you did not intend to kill that person. The professional will try to establish that your main purpose was to scare and not to kill. This leads to getting a less severe charge, like Assault with a Deadly Weapon (PC 245).

Option 2: Claiming Self-Defense or Defense of Others

To reduce attempted murder charges, an accused needs to prove that he or she or someone else was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm. Hence, what happened was actually done to prevent the harm. Well, California law allows people to use reasonable force to protect themselves.

In attempted murder cases, a criminal lawyer in Los Angeles (abogado penal los angeles) tries to convive the prosecutor that the lethal force was necessary for defense. This proves that the defendant has not initiated the conflict but has only tried to survive or to protect another person. This results in a total acquittal or dismissal of the charges.

Option 3: Mistaken Identity

Often, crimes happen in Los Angeles in chaotic and fast-moving environments. This leads to flawed eyewitness identification. To avoid attempted murder charges, lawyers try to prove that the accused person did not commit the crime and was just mistakenly identified.

What sets this defense strategy apart is that it challenges the accuracy of identification evidence. By highlighting discrepancies in descriptions, weaponize alibis, evaluate neighborhood CCTV footages, and assessing cell phone forensics, your lawyer needs to create reasonable doubts. If the professional succeeds in establishing this, there is a high chance that the case might be dropped.

Option 4: Insufficient Evidence or No Direct Action

Being charged with attempted murder does not prove that there is solid proof against you. An attempted murder defense lawyer verifies every evidence to find weakness. Some of the common ones are limited physical evidence, gaps in timelines, etc. Any discrepancy can lay the foundation of a stronger pillar for your defense.

Attorneys try to establish the theory that the planning of the accused never moved towards a concrete attempt. This can be inadequate for an attempted murder charge. The charge can be dismissed of actions never moved beyond the preparation stage.

Option 5: Negotiating a Plea Bargain

This defense strategy is adopted if the ball is not in the defendant’s court. If the available evidence is very much in the favor of the prosecution, a criminal lawyer in Los Angeles (abogado penal los angeles) will try to negotiate a plea bargain. Here, your attorney will try to get the charge reduced from attempted murder to attempted voluntary manslaughter or an assault with a deadly weapon.

The past criminal record of a defendant plays a crucial role in negotiating a plea bargain. Also, lawyers evaluate police reports, forensic evidence, witness statements, etc. to identify any weakness. With a proper defense, your attorney will try to decrease your charge from lifetime imprisonment to 5 to 7 years in jail.

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Conclusion

Attempted murder leads to a range of consequences but that depends on the available evidence. With the right defense strategy, charges can be reduced or dismissed. Seeking professional legal help is important here.

Dealing with an Attempted Murder Charge?

Select a reliable criminal defense firm in Los Angeles. Interact with the professional lawyers about your case. Seek the right defense strategy and get your charged lowered or dismissed.