Nobody is Perfect, even Johnny Depp. Is Taking Responsibility Ever a Good Decision in a Minnesota Criminal Case?
You have the presumption of innocence which means that the State of Minnesota must convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed a crime. You don’t have to say anything, they have to do everything. That being said, is there ever a time when you should take some responsibility for you situation? If you are asking this question, you should sit down with an experienced Minnesota criminal defense attorney to discuss your case.
“Nobody is perfect and admitting that can go a long way in creating credibility with that jury.”
Jack Rice is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist and an experienced criminal defense attorney who appeared on Court TV on 4/18/22 to discuss the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial. In this appearance, Jack talked about the benefits of Depp talking about his drug addiction and taking certain responsibility for this behavior. This is necessary to create credibility with the jury but also to own the evidence that is potentially coming at you anyway. Further, it is critical to differentiate between certain behavior and actual liability or criminal responsibility in the case.
There are a lot of reasons somebody charged with a crime should take responsibility. These can include:
establishing that you are not perfect but you are not a criminal;
taking the sting out of opposing counsel bringing up that bad behavior themselves;
using responsibility as a negotiating tool when dealing with pleas or at sentencing.
This all being said, there can be a serious gamble for doing so. Contact an experienced Minnesota criminal defense attorney to understand the risks versus the rewards.
There are certainly other circumstances in criminal cases where taking responsibility is critical. If you are able to negotiate a plea, the ability to take responsibility to critical. This is also true at sentencing where you might be treating the needle between what you did do versus what you didn’t do.
If you are facing serious criminal charges in Minnesota, you need an experienced criminal defense attorney. Jack Rice is a former prosecutor, a former U.S. Federal Agent, a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist and founder of Jack Rice Defense. Contact Jack Defense for a free confidential consultation of call 651-447-7650 or 612-227-1339.