Asked in Criminal Law for Texas

Q: Can a murder case be beat if no evidence from the scene? Sentence to prison by juror..

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1 Lawyer Answer
Kiele Linroth Pace
Kiele Linroth Pace
Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Austin, TX
  • Licensed in Texas

A: Evidence from the scene is not required for a conviction... and the testimony of witnesses is EVIDENCE.

The best time to fight a criminal case is BEFORE you are sentenced to prison by a jury. People have the mistaken belief that an appeal is a second chance... a do-over. The truth is that most appeals only address trial errors that were properly "preserved" with an objection. An appeals court evaluates a claim of insufficient evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict and can only overturn the result if no rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. In other words, they do not start from a neutral state, they start with the assumption that the trial result was valid.

If anyone is reading this who still has a pending case that has not yet gone to trial, please understand that your chances are much better if you do everything possible at trial. Hire the best attorney. Hire any necessary investigators or expert witnesses. Don't try to save money on the trial defense with an assumption that you'll just appeal if the verdict doesn't go your way. An appeal costs 10x the price of a proper trial defense and is 100x more likely to fail.

Tim Akpinar agrees with this answer

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