The Role of a Criminal Defence Lawyer:
The role of a criminal defence lawyer is often questioned in society, with a common thought being that they are assisting criminals in beating the law and lack morality.
The importance of the role of a criminal lawyers in Brisbane is becoming more evident with recent matters which have been in the Courts across Australia. The well covered “Brittany Higgins Case” is topical amongst the legal and broader community due to the basis for bringing charges against Mr Bruce Lehmann. An inquiry is continuing into the conduct of criminal justice agencies in the prosecution of Mr Bruce Lehmann.
What this case makes clear is that whilst criminal justice agencies, including police and prosecutions have the interests of justice as a forefront concern, they are not robots. They are still suspectable to lapses in judgement and emotions which can lead to mistakes and poor decisions being made. This is where the role of a criminal defence lawyer becomes so important.
Our office has been and continues to be involved in several matters where police have made errors or have had lapses in judgement which cause persons to be treated unlawfully. Our office is currently assisting a client in being compensated for a Queensland Police officer who is charged with allegedly stealing $400,000.00 worth of watches from him during the execution of a search warrant.
Our office has previously had charges dropped for a client charged with Trafficking in Dangerous Drugs as a result of two emergent searches executed on his vehicle and on a hotel room. The police in that case affirmed that they executed the searches on a belief that the client was stealing from the vehicle, despite the evidence showing that they knew the vehicle was owned by the client.
Our office will continue to ensure that we play our role in upholding justice, and assisting persons who are charged with criminal offences in ensuring they have access to fairness.