burlington county military criminal lawyers

If you have a criminal charge and need to appear in front of a court martial, hiring the right private military criminal lawyer is the most important action you can take in preparing your defense. With an experienced attorney, you give yourself the best chance of a positive outcome in your case, such as a not guilty verdict or a dismissal of the charges. Of course, nothing is ever guaranteed in a court of law, but you can at least improve your odds.

If you go with a court-appointed attorney or even worse, decide to represent yourself, you simply aren’t going to have nearly as good a chance at success. Court-appointed attorneys can be good at their jobs, but there’s almost always a clear difference between the level of representation you get from a private lawyer and one the court appoints for you.

What Are Your Criminal Defense Options?

When you have one or more criminal charges, there are essentially three routes you can choose.

You can defend yourself, which the court will almost always recommend against, and for good reason. If you don’t have legal experience, you’ll be a fish out of water and it’s highly unlikely you could prepare even an average defense. It would be like trying out for a professional sports league with no experience playing the sport. Even if you have legal experience, the fact that you’re defending yourself would probably cloud your judgment. Overall, defending yourself is a poor choice.

You can take the court-appointed attorney. This will only have one advantage over hiring your own private lawyer, and that is the fact that court-appointed attorneys are free. A criminal case isn’t the place where you want to cut costs, though, because if you lose, it will have serious repercussions. Depending on what you’re charged with, a guilty verdict could significantly impact the rest of your life.

Your final option is hiring a military criminal defense lawyer, and the sooner you do so, the better off you’ll be.

Why You Need a Military Criminal Defense Lawyer

All lawyers aren’t created equal. One of the most important factors that separates the good lawyers from the very best is their experience. If you hire a private lawyer to defend you, you’re able to choose one who has been practicing law for decades with hundreds or thousands of cases under his belt. When it comes to experience, private lawyers tend to have much more than court-appointed attorneys. That makes a major difference.

You also need to consider your lawyer’s case load. When you hire a private lawyer, he’ll make sure that he has enough time to handle your case and provide the best possible representation. Because of how many people go with court-appointed attorneys, these attorneys are usually swamped under many cases. They’ll prepare your defense and work on your case to the best of their ability, but it’s unrealistic to expect that they can give your case the same kind of attention as a private lawyer.

Here’s another problem with choosing a court-appointed attorney – you can’t do that until you’ve been charged, but you can hire your own private lawyer at any time. That means if you hire a lawyer, he can start his investigation before charges are filed to better prepare your defense. If you’re lucky, he may be able to help you avoid charges entirely. This would be impossible with a court-appointed attorney.

Protecting Your Life and Career

If you’re going before a court martial, you probably have a lot to lose. The nature of any potential punishments will depend on the charges, but punishments can be severe. There’s the possibility of losing your job, benefits, needing to pay back bonuses and educational costs covered by the military, and even getting your retirement taken away.

Any of these consequences far outweigh the cost of hiring a private military criminal lawyer. And we offer a free consultation to go over your situation, whether you’ve been charged already or you suspect that you will be in the near future. Give us a call so that you can have the best defense available.