When you represent yourself in a Criminal Trial

Posted by vendelajar on August 22nd, 2014

Crimes are pernicious tonics that leave people indifferent and cold for a lifetime. When you are one of those who are accused of certain crimes, you too have all the legal rights. One of those is to hire the best lawyer in town and you can go through the entire process – from random questioning through the end of the trial – only if you want one. In case you don’t want an attorney, you certainly have all the rights to represent yourself and your case.

Called as appearing "pro se" or "pro per," means you are representing yourself, which actually means you need to invest your time to understand criminal law in Singapore and then do whatever a lawyer is supposed to do to protect all your rights. So before you go any further with your decision, consider what it really means and how things actually work.  

Why People Actually Represent Themselves?

People choose to represent themselves for a variety of reasons and other logics that come in their ways. Few think that they would be more successful than someone else who isn’t aware of all the facts of their case. Others also represent themselves since they think they won't qualify for a non-cost, court-appointed attorney, but they just don’t want to hire one at their own expense.  And others just don’ trust lawyers for their case.

Representing Yourself- Disadvantages in Itself     

Criminal law is quite difficult to understand and in case you are representing yourself, you'll have to learn all the laws related to your case. Moreover, you’ll have to understand various procedures that are utilized in the courtroom – including questing witnesses, picking on jury, submitting evidences, preparing documents. The prosecutor, who is representing the government, is likely to have all the right knowledge and experience about the law and criminal procedures. With such an opponent, an unprepared pro se defendant can be at a distinct disadvantage.

Standby Legal Counsel

The judge won’t be providing any legal advice, extra help or maybe some extra time to prepare as you chose to represent yourself. In order to provide you proper access to legal advice while you represent yourself, the judge may appoint a lawyer as advisory or co-counsel. The lawyer acting as advisory may even write up documents, talk with the judge on your behalf and will also be present in the courtroom to answer your questions.

 A Good Lawyer can certainly help

The law surrounding that represents you as pro se in a criminal case can be substantially complicated. Since all the facts of each case are different, it’s always better to hire the best in business lawyer in Singapore.

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Vendela Jar is an expert writer having vast experience about the Law industry. Currently, she is writing on various topics like criminal law Singapore and Criminal Lawyer in Singapore.