This paper will discuss the necessary steps in preparing for a criminal trial. The first part of the paper will examine this problem from the perspective of a criminal defense attorney. The second part of the paper will look at the problem from the perspective of a prosecuting attorney, focusing upon limiting the possibility of appeal after a conviction.
In a criminal prosecution, the defense most often has a more difficult task than the prosecution. A criminal defendant rarely possesses resources similar to those of the government. While the government can utilize several law enforcement agencies during the course of a single investigation, a criminal defendant will often be unable to hire even a single private investigator. Similarly, the government can afford to assign more than one prosecuting attorney to a single case, while a defendant will usually be able to afford no more than a single defense attorney. This attorney, in turn, will have to carefully budget his or her time spent on the case so that other cases can be handled at the same time. In addition, few private attorneys are able to make a living handling only criminal cases; this means that a prosecuting attorney is likely to have much more experience trying criminal cases than a private defense attorney. Those defense attorneys who are employed by the government to handle indigent defendants usually find themselves handling too many cases to be able to devote adequate time to a single case. All of these disadvantages make preparation prior to a trial extremely important.
Although rules of trial and evidence vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, there are a few principles which apply to trial preparation in all jurisdictions. These principles have to do with either common sense or U.S. Constitutional law. Most of them deal with gathering information from the client and from the prosecution and their investigators. In some instances, it may be advisa...