Regarding criminal law, some people stubbornly believe that a lawyer who knows that the client is guilty will plead in court that the client has not done anything wrong. This has nothing to do with reality. Criminal lawyers have a plethora of ways to defend a client they know is guilty without lying to the Judge: they can invoke the flimsiness of the evidence of the Prosecution, request cancelling part of the evidence because of failure to respect the fundamental rights of the defendant during the police investigation, requesting procedures end because of delays, pleading for a lesser sentence than what is requested by the Prosecutors and so forth.
But what about cases in which the client is the victim of false criminal charges?
This means the defendant states to the defence lawyer that nothing happened. Right away, this reminds us of the classical case of sexual aggression (section 271 Criminal code), whereas the defendant swears he is innocent. Take also a situation in which the plaintiff consented perfectly during the event, but claims afterwards that she did not. There can also be phony charges concerning other offences, for instance in cases of conjugal violence (section 266 Criminal code), assault, threats, etc.
Many criminal lawyers will tell you these are the most demanding cases because you really do not want an innocent client found guilty in court of an odious offence. What are lawyers supposed to do facing false charges? First they have to analyse in depth the written evidence submitted to them. They request expert advice whenever it is relevant. They ask that a preliminary inquiry be held in order to have available more details about what happened (in order to use these details in court). They prepare the client to testify before the trial so that the latter does not get caught in certain traps. Finally, they will carefully cross-examine the plaintiff at length in view of highlighting contradictions in their testimony. Once the evidence is clear, the criminal lawyers will ask the judge for an acquittal pleading that there is reasonable doubt as to the client’s guilt.
