Section 3.12 Obtaining the Facts

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

8. (§3.12) Obtaining the Facts

Armed with the knowledge of the charge, counsel can focus on the client’s knowledge of the facts. Counsel should not be alarmed if the police version of the facts varies substantially from the facts as related by the defendant and independent witnesses. The police have gone to school to learn how to “clean up” the facts and have learned from every court-related experience. Meanwhile, inexperienced lay witnesses are unskilled, frightened, unsure, and untrained; they never seem...