How to Beat Your Road Rage Case in Los Angeles?
Los Angeles and surrounding counties in California are some of the most heavily-trafficked freeways and roadways – not just in the nation – but in the world. All kinds of road rage cases occur on a daily basis and if you've been caught up in this situation and the police have become involved and you've been sent into court, obviously you're going to need a great attorney by your side and you're going to need a game plan on exactly how you're going to deal with your case.
Having done these cases over the course of the past twenty-five years, I know that there's always more than meets the eye and there's always another version to the story. Unfortunately, sometimes the police only get part of what happened because either a witness blames it on the client and so they figure okay, well then the client must be the one that's at fault, or they actually see a piece of what happened.
However, they don't see the whole thing, or the party who's claiming that they're the victim is the only one who gives a statement to the police because the other party's gone because they left the scene because they were dealing with a nut. So, there's a number of different things that can happen in these cases, and as far as how to win a road rage case, obviously you're going to need to have a defense.
When it comes to defenses in road rage cases, you're going to have to be able to show that you didn't' do anything criminal. A lot of times people become angry on the road and they start doing a bunch of crazy stuff to another driver – cutting them off, slamming on their brakes – and various other things – threatening them – and then when that driver reacts, all of a sudden, they're the victim and they can't understand what happened – why the person did whatever it is they did.
Independent Review of Witnesses
So, it's going to take an attorney that's done these cases before to be able to show – okay, here's what actually happened. Here's what the defense says. So, if you can mount a defense that makes sense and if you have witnesses, that would be fantastic as well because that will support your defense, and obviously, whenever there's an independent witness and it's one person's word against another, the independent witness will usually break the tie.
So, once you've got your defense established and you know exactly how you're going to proceed with the case and how you're going to show that you didn't do anything unlawful and you were simply reacting to what the other person did, and the other person is the one that did something unlawful and dangerous on the road way, then the next thing you're going to need is to have an attorney who can execute that defense to get you the not guilty verdict that you want.
Lawyer With Experience in Your Los Angeles Courthouse
So, having an attorney who has done road rage cases before in LA, who is familiar with the courthouse where your case is and is local to it and knows how to deal with the prosecutors and judges is imperative, because that attorney is going to know how to maneuver through the system, what to do, how to angle the case up, what type of a jury pool they're going to be looking at if the case is going to go to trial, and really know how to defend a road rage case the right way.
When you sit down with your attorney, obviously you've got to give that attorney all the information about the case. Don't omit anything, don't put a spin on the case. Trust me, the attorney is going to want to help you and come up with a defense, but they need to know all the facts first.
If you don't give them all the facts in a road rage situation and then some other facts come up that they didn't know about, then that's going to be used against them and that's going to hurt your case. So, be honest with your attorney, give him all the details and then come up with a game plan that makes sense for you.
How do you Define a Win in a Road Rage Case in Los Angeles?
A win is defined by the facts and circumstances surrounding your case and having a realistic goal related to those facts and circumstances. So, obviously everybody wants to get a not guilty verdict or wants to have the prosecutor dismiss their case, or not even file it in the first place.
Unfortunately, though this is not the majority of what happens in criminal defense. The prosecutors, especially in road rage cases don't want to file a case if they're going to lose it. They're going to get embarrassed, they're going to waste tax-payor resources to defend the case. So, they typically are filing the case when they've got the evidence – or at least they believe they have the evidence – to win the case.
So, if it's a situation where they've got the evidence against you, then you're probably not going to have a jury trial. You're going to want to have your attorney try to plea bargain and negotiate something that makes sense for you. So, a win in that scenario can be defined in getting a result that you can live with that's realistic based on the facts and circumstances surrounding your particular case.
So, you sit down with your criminal defense attorney, you guys decide what is realistic. A lot of what I do is, I ask the clients once we've gone over everything – okay, so what do you want out of this case? What do you think the case is worth, and why do you think it's worth that?
Once I hear that, then we can really have an honest discussion about whether or not that is something that is realistic. And when we come up with something that makes sense and that is attainable, then I tell the client what they can do to help me and what I'm going to do to help them, and then we're both moving in the same direction to get the result that they want. I've been down this path before. I know what it takes to win a case and I know what it takes to reach a realistic goal and get you out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible.
