When hiring a criminal sexual conduct lawyer it is important to hire the best lawyer you can find. A lawyer who has the time, skill and ability to focus on your case and get you the best results. Unfortunately, this does not always happen and many who claim to be a criminal sexual conduct lawyer, let their clients down. Unfortunately, the consequences of having a bad lawyer including putting many innocent people in prison.
In Strickland v. Washington, the United States Supreme Court stated that when considering whether a criminal sexual conduct lawyer trial is effective, appellate courts must consider (1) whether counsel’s performance was objectively unreasonable, and (2) whether the defendant was prejudiced by counsel’s defective performance. This same standard applies in Michigan and to Michigan sex crimes cases.
With regard to the first prong, the defendant must demonstrate that his or her attorney’s performance was deficient, meaning that the representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. The second prong requires a reasonable probability that but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. In other words, the essential question is whether better lawyering would have produced a different result.
Further, while a court may not second-guess reasonable strategic or tactical judgments, patently erroneous advice or decisions, based on misunderstanding of the law or misapprehension of critical facts, cannot be excused as reasonable. Specifically, areas where an attorney may become ineffective is in his or her failure to investigate and/or present expert testimony, failure to investigate the facts or the case, and/or failure to object to improper testimony.
When a criminal sexual conduct lawyer represents you, they literally have your life in their hands. At Smith-Lehman, we understand how important it is to provide not only effective representation, but also that your life depends on the outcome. We have a long history of providing the best reputation and take pride in the number of lives we have saved.