Syracuse Criminal Law Blog

The permanent damage related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other conditions, including traumatic brain injury, arising out of combat have been widely documented. Last week, an attorney raised PTSD as a defense for his client who was charged with killing a man while driving drunk in Florida.

The defendant suffers from PTSD as well as a brain injury he received while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2010, while driving drunk, he was involved in a head-on collision accident that killed the other driver. His family and his lawyer blame the crash on combat injuries. His case caused the military to acknowledge that it should be more thorough in evaluating and treating PTSD in soldiers returning home. This case could impact future criminal matters involving soldiers in New York and nationwide.

Syracuse residents may be aware of the websites that are sprouting up all over to post the mug shots of people who have been charged with a criminal offense.  The websites are quite controversial because they may sometimes damage the reputations of people who may be innocent.

We know that when people are charged with a crime--be it a misdemeanor or a felony--public judgment begins long before the case is in court. Many people assume that someone who has been arrested is guilty, which means people sometimes pay a price for crimes they did not commit. This is one reason it is important to discuss your case with a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible, in order to minimize these types of penalties when possible.

When it comes to a criminal charge--the best defense is a strong offense. It is very important for someone who is accused of a crime to enlist a criminal defense attorney who will fight for the best possible outcome in a case. The stakes are very high in these cases, and sometimes defendants are punished too harshly or even wrongly convicted of criminal charges when the best defense is not put forward.

In recent years, DNA evidence has been used to overturn many criminal convictions in the state of New York. In fact, 27 people who were wrongly convicted in New York have now been exonerated thanks to a state DNA database. This week, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that he is creating an office to review possible wrongful death convictions as well as streamline claims for damages.

Plea deals play a very important role in federal and New York criminal courts. In fact, plea bargaining is a very central part of the criminal justice system, dictating convictions and sentences in many cases. However, many criminal defendants struggle during the plea negotiation process, unsure of whether a deal is favorable to them.

This is where intelligent legal advice comes into play. A competent and qualified criminal defense attorney should be working to negotiate a plea deal that is favorable to the defendant, as well as communicating to the defendant about whether it is wise to accept an offer or better to head to trial. Unfortunately, some criminal defense lawyers are in fact either bad at communicating these things to the accused, or are simply providing bad legal advice. A Supreme Court ruling issued last week is aimed at stopping this from happening.