White collar crimes are the non-violent kinds of felonies. These include things like tax evasion, embezzlement, forgery and public corruption. If you have been involved directly in such a crime, or you just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, you will need to formulate a strong defense. You should hire a criminal defense lawyer in Royse City TX as soon as you start suspecting that you could be under investigation for committing a serious crime.
Proving a white collar crime
If you want to form a strong defense, you need to understand how the prosecution will formulate their case against you. In short, prosecution’s objective is to prove that a crime was committed and that you committed it willingly. To prove their case, they need to show that you as the defendant had a guilty mind or what is known as mens rea. Mens rea covers the following states of mind:
- Negligence
- Failure to maintain and encourage the acceptable standard of behavior
- Intentionally committing an act that you know was criminal
The above scope of mens rea goes to prove that even ignorance can end up with you being investigated and prosecuted on white collar charges. At times, people get indicted for white collar crimes that they did not even succeed in committing.
The defense options open for you
As mentioned, you should hire a criminal defense lawyer in Royse City TX as soon as you start suspecting that you could be under investigation. In case the investigations lead to an arrest, the lawyer will help you choose a line of defense to opt for. The common defenses include:
- Entrapment: Here, the lawyer will argue that you were coerced into committing a crime.
- Absence of intent: Here, you will admit to committing a crime, but you will also prove that you didn’t know and didn’t have the intent to commit a crime.
- Duress: Here, you will admit to committing a crime, and argue that another person threatened to hurt you if you didn’t do it.
Those are just a few defense options that can work when dealing with white collar crime charges. To learn more about the services offered by lawyers, go to website
