Defendants with multiple legal charges face many problems like health and job issues, mental illness, and several other challenges.
During the prosecution period, they face many serious challenges, so they search for ways to on How To Convince Prosecutor To Drop Charges. But the issue is that since many websites provide different information about how to convince a prosecutor to drop the charges, defendants get frustrated with confusion.
If you fit this description, then you should not worry because you have arrived at the right place. Here instead of confusing you with massive useless stuff, we have picked up the best nine ways through which you can make a prosecutor drop the charges. Some of these ways are plea deals, making someone else accept the crime, lack of legal evidence, strong moral character, clerical mistakes, etc.
Also, in this respect, an experienced attorney can prove helpful, and your negotiations should be strong enough to persuade the persecutor. It is the responsibility of your attorney to collect multiple reasons that automatically make the prosecutor drop the charges.
7 Ways To Convince Prosecutor To Drop Charges
There is a wide variety of ways through which you can make the prosecutor drop the charges. Among these, the following nine best practices have been selected to help you in the dismissal of charges.
1. Lack of Strong Legal Evidence
Sometimes the defendants have good luck that law enforcement lacks solid legal evidence against them. The police may not have gathered enough evidence to prove the charge against the defendant, or the evidence may be exculpatory.
Exculpatory evidence means that the evidence against the defendant is illegal or weak to support the accusation. In this situation, law enforcement cannot do anything despite stopping the case here. This means you wont even have to question that Can Charges Be Dropped At An Arraignment Hearing?
Some cases of exculpatory evidence are like you were not in the spot of the crime, someone else has accepted the crime, or there is camera footage showing someone else committing the crime. These are minor pieces of evidence and are not counted as legal. Therefore since three is not solid legal evidence, your attorney can issue a motion stating the drop up of charges.
So it is one of the effective ways that you should know how to get a prosecutor to drop charges.
2. Be Confident Enough
Every prosecutor has a keen eye on almost every action of the defendant. They even judge the defendants for their behaviors as well.
Accordingly, a good way of getting a prosecutor to drop charges is establishing confidence in front of the prosecutor if you are not an offender. And also, why should you feel disturbed by the trials although you have not done anything wrong? Your confident behavior will come in handy because the prosecutor will get an idea that you are innocent, and hence they may drop the charges.
But if you are an offender, you should not go this way. It may complicate your case more than it’s expected. You may think, can the prosecutor drop charges in such a case? The answer to this is yes! In such cases, you can also make the prosecutor drop charges by signing a plea deal (Discussed later in this article).
3. Demonstrate there is another Crime Heinous more than your case on the Spot
Law enforcement focuses on significant cases rather than continuing the lengthy processes of minor ones. So here is a rebate for you if you focus on convincing the prosecutor to drop charges.
Accordingly, you will be lucky if you are charged with a petty crime. Then you (the defendant) have a chance to request the dismissal of charges to the prosecutor.
Suppose you are guilty of quarreling with someone in the neighborhood. But at the same time and spot, a car thief was stealing the car. However, if the prosecutor is forcing more on your problem and charging you for it, the better way to make the prosecutor drop charges is to divert their attention to the other crime.
You can say that car stealing is a more serious crime to be focused on rather than just a little fight. If the other case is more robust, then there is a great possibility of making your charges drop.
This way helps most of the defendants in dismissing their charges. Specifically, with the help of an expert attorney, the work gets easier.
4. Bring the illegal Police Raid to the Prosecutor’s Attention
Regardless of the type of crime or criminal, police must have a legal warrant to arrest legally. Even the police must maintain their behavior and continue the arrest procedure within the legal boundaries. It is also called a violation of the fourth amendment. This law gives full rights of safety to the citizens against illegal raids.
Such situations provide a great leap for your attorney to get the prosecutor to drop the charges because any legal forces don’t have the right to put a raid on your private property without a proper warrant or an actual order.
You have to bring the prosecutor’s attention to the police misbehaving. Like if they stopped you without any reason or a legal complaint which is entirely against the law. They will consider your objection right because if they don’t have evidence against you, how can they charge you?
In this condition, your attorney can issue a motion stating the forces’ behavior, including the lack of legal warrant and misbehavior. If this motion passes, then the prosecutor will have to drop the charges.
5. Set up Plea Deals
Plea deals mean a legal arrangement between the prosecutor and the defendant. It best suits the defendants with charges of multiple crimes at one time. Your attorney can ask the prosecutor to drop or reduce the costs through a plea deal. This will help in getting the charges drop before court date.
Among the several kinds of plea deals or plea bargains are fact bargaining and plea and bar (count bargaining). Now, count bargaining gives the defendant a suitable method of how to get the prosecutor to drop the charges in case of many crimes. Through this bargain, you have to accept guilty to one account, and in return, the prosecutor will then drop all other charges.
Since exceptions are always there, you can choose fact bargaining if the prosecutor is not dropping the charges at any cost. It enables the defendant’s attorney to ask the prosecutor for lighter charges. If you have committed significant crimes requiring severe penalties, you will be sentenced to lighter charges using the fact bargain.
6. Try to Convince the Prosecutor without Plea Bargains
We have already discussed above what the plea bargain is and who requires it. Accordingly, it does not suit defendants who have not committed any crimes because a plea bargain means that you are the offender.
You should not even plead guilty if you have not committed a crime. Although the prosecutor will try their best to accept the guilty, you should not go for it under the prosecutor’s pressure.
In short, since you are not a criminal, make the prosecutor sure that you will attend the trials without hesitation and plead guilty. It will let the prosecutor know your innocence, so they will take no time to drop the charges.
7. Substantiate the Denial of your Involvement in the Alleged Crime
Often you are charged for a crime that was not a crime itself in real but your compulsion.
Let’s take a situation where you are charged for wrong parking on the main road, resulting in a massive traffic jam. Therefore the prosecutor is going to charge you with severe sentences.
But you know that you crossed the car at the wrong place to save a person from a thief. Otherwise, you would not have done it. Therefore, you should bring the prosecutor’s attention to this reality and get him to drop the charges. It will let the prosecutor think about the dismissal of charges because you were forced by the situation and had not committed a crime.
Also, try to persuade the prosecutor by saying that you will help them arrest the thief by reminding the forces of the sketch, look, and other clues. Doing so will affirm your innocence, and hence indirectly, you will get full right to let the prosecutor drop the charges for you.
8. Prosecutor Dropping Charges With Administrative Issues
Yes, primarily, the prosecutors drop charges in such cases. But it varies for different situations.
Since all the information should be correct for compiling a charge against the defendant, any administrative mistakes in the defendant’s name, age, location, etc., will automatically lead to the drop of charges. For this, you should also understand the difference between Charges Dismissed Vs Dropped.
There is a good likelihood that the court will remand the complaint as the judge notices any clerical mistakes. They won’t even call you for the subsequent hiring. But the problem is that the prosecutors will not drop the charges in case of a significant crime, although they can at least dismiss the indictment. In this way, you and your professional attorney will have enough time to gather some substantial shreds of evidence on your behalf.
In the same way, your attorney can also agree with the prosecutor to drop the charges entirely or not refile the complaint. You can also try to persuade the prosecutor to plea bargains, resulting in the drop of your orders.
9. Dropping Charges In Case of a Non-Speedy Trial
Generally, according to law, the prosecution process should start immediately after arresting a defendant, leading to the trial. Therefore in case of a slow prosecution process, the defendant has the right to negotiate with the prosecutor to drop the charges.
Let’s take the example of Florida, where the trial process should start within 90 to 175 days.
But suppose it is taking much more time than 20 to 30 days. In that case, the defendant has the right to drop the charges. For this, the attorney has to file a motion stating clearly the violation of the speedy trial and demanding the drop charges by the prosecutor. So this is how to get charges dropped before the court date without any inconvenience or effort.
You May Also Want To Check Difference Between Attorney and Prosecutor
FAQ’s
Is it possible for a Judge to dismiss a case?
Yes, it is possible but not guaranteed because it requires a strong dismissal motion. Thus your attorney has to file a substantial motion demanding the dismissal of the charges.
Can I agree to a Plea deal in order to get the Prosecutor to drop the charges?
You should not go for it in the earlier stage of your case. It is not suitable if you want to prove your inculpability.
How much time does a prosecutor take to file a charge?
If the defendant is in custody, the prosecutor will file a charge within 2 to 3 days. However, if the defendant is not in control, then charges may be filed in days or weeks.
Final Verdict On How To Convince Prosecutor to Drop Charges
In a nutshell, if you ponder how to convince a prosecutor to drop charges, you will have gotten most of the information from the above guide.
Those were the multiple ways or reasons due which a prosecutor can drop charges. Although it is not that easy for the prosecutor, they can still agree in case of solid arguments and evidence.
Moreover, your attorney should be professional enough to know how to get the prosecutor to drop the charges in case of significant charges. The attorney’s knowledge and experience prove beneficial when they have to issue a vigorous legal motion for the drop of charges.
By following the tips outlined in this detailed guide, you may be able to convince the prosecutor to drop the charges against you before your court date. We hope you find this information helpful in your legal situation.
Hi, I’m Brian Gary; I have my Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) degree from SMU Dedman School of Law in Dallas. Over the years, I have dealt with many families and successful corporate Legal cases. I have counseled many people on legal matters, and along with my profession, I write about Law on my blog. Please feel free to contact me for counseling/case discussion; I’ll be happy to help you.