How to Defend Against Murder Charges

Murder charges carry some of the harshest penalties imposed by United States law in cases where the defendant is found guilty. If you've been accused of murder, you should assemble the best legal team you can afford and prepare to defend yourself against the charges.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Criminal lawyer

1. Have an alibi. Stick to it when you're being questioned by police, as you may pay for it in court if you contradict yourself. In fact, it's always a better idea to use your Miranda rights and opt to remain silent until you have legal counsel with you.
2. Hire an attorney rather than use state-appointed lawyers. It's almost always the case that private criminal lawyers have better success rates in defending clients against murder charges than public defenders do. Invest in the best attorney you can pay for--it may pay dividends in the courtroom.
3. Work with your lawyer to identify a defense strategy that you'll use to try to create reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury members. While the exact approach you'll take will vary considerably, depending on the specifics of the circumstances of your particular case, a good general technique is to attack weaknesses in the prosecution's argument in addition to presenting strong counter-arguments that establish reasonable doubt.
4. Exhibit exemplary behavior during the court proceedings in which you will defend yourself against the murder charges. Try your best to project an air of propriety and respectability so that the jury members will question whether or not you're actually capable of committing murder at all.
5. Call the character of prosecution witnesses into question as much as you possibly can. This is another tried-and-true technique that defense attorneys use to cast a shadow of doubt on the arguments being posited by prosecutors. If, for example, a particular witness was known to be under the influence of alcohol on the night of the murder or a known drug user, you'll want to point that out in court.
6. Use the testimony of expert witnesses to defend yourself, if applicable to your case. Expert witnesses can be very useful in showing that the defendant was physically or psychologically incapable of committing the crime he is accused of, or that the physical evidence at the crime scene is not as conclusive as it may seem. Your lawyer has access to referral services through which you can hire expert witnesses.

Tips & Warnings

• In cases where there are multiple accused parties, it may be possible to stand trial for or plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for testifying against other defendants. You should consider this option with the help of your legal team if it's offered to you.
• If you are convicted of first-degree murder, you may face the death penalty. In such cases, it may be wiser to enter a guilty plea to avoid the imposition of capital punishment, especially if the weight of the evidence makes it very likely that you'll be found guilty.