If you want to make someone paranoid, one of the easiest ways is just to repeat, “Anything you say can and will be used against you” until you have built a Panopticon in your target’s mind. Almost anyone can be intimidated into revealing the truth or even into making self-incriminating statements that are not true. Prosecutors know this, and even though the Fifth Amendmentprotects against the coercion of witnesses and defendants, manipulative and coercive interrogation tactics are still frighteningly prevalent. In this context, it seems like your only friend is your trusty smartphone; even though it is spying on you more efficiently than any human can do, it does not have self-interested motives for doing so. Your phone does not care who it snitches on, and this fact can work in your favor or in the favor of the prosecution.
A Texas criminal defense lawyer can help you cast doubt on the prosecution’s case against you by building your case on the unbiased evidence captured by machines.
Your iPhone Will Not Flip Just Because Prosecutors Offered It a Plea Deal
At a criminal trial, the difference between clearing your name and getting a criminal conviction that stays on your record even after you have finished your sentence is whether the jury believes that there is reasonable doubt about your guilt. Therefore, prosecutors and defense lawyers follow the number one rule of rhetoric when constructing their cases, namely, know your audience. Jurors are human beings, and successful prosecutions, as well as successful defenses, play to jurors’ human emotions and their natural tendency to relate what they hear about events in which they were not involved to their own experience. Therefore, prosecutors often focus on the jury’s empathy for the people harmed by the alleged crime, and defense lawyers often focus on the jury’s empathy for the defendant. Even when lawyers present digital evidence, such as photographs, emails, and text messages, its purpose is often to corroborate or illustrate the statements of eyewitnesses or expert witnesses.
What if you simply let the devices speak for themselves? For example, location data from your phone, or from someone else’s, can prove your alibi more definitively than live testimony by you or by someone who claims to have seen you somewhere else at the time of the crime; it is almost impossible to prove whether witnesses are telling the truth or whether their memory of events is accurate. You might hesitate to let your phone spill the beans about your unkempt appearance, temper tantrum text messages, or trashy social media use, but this might be just what you need to cast doubt on the charges against you. You do not have to persuade the jury that you are a perfect person; you only have to show that there is reasonable doubt about whether the charges against you are true.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC About Criminal Defense Cases
A Dallas criminal defense lawyer can help you enlist the help of your smartphone to cast doubt on your guilt. Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC, in Dallas, Texas, to discuss your case.