QUESTION

How can I make myself clearer in defending myself in the court?

Asked on Apr 10th, 2017 on Criminal Law - Alabama
More details to this question:
I need some professional advice to defend myself while waiting. My court is scheduled after bailing out myself. I have been arrested 2 weeks ago and charged for threatening remarks commented in a discussion forum on the social media. The comment I made was "he need a single bullet in his head as soon as possible” to our local leader within the closed discussion forum. As a matter of fact, that I was using a phrase that is not commonly used to put bullet in something" or someone is to terminate / stop or to put something out of misery situation, after doing a research on the Google and found that phrase to use in court in defend myself. But I never mention gun, in my statement. In fact, I was not threatening but I was criticizing him for the lack political leadership roles carried out within my area that eventually led up in some unwanted situation that happened which I used that "phrase" put a bullet" which was misunderstood and taken for real threat.
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1 ANSWER

Tax Law Attorney serving Birmingham, AL at Meadows & Howell, LLC
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You would need to look at the wording of the statute that contains the crime with which you were charged. The statute will lay out the elements of the crime, and relevant court opinions may further clarify these elements and apply them to fact patterns that are similar to yours. This is something that an attorney is trained to do, so it will require you to do some research and there may be a learning curve for you if you attempt to represent yourself pro se. Unless you have already attended an initial hearing, you will not have a chance to defend yourself or put forth any sort of reasoning for your actions at this first hearing. The initial hearing is usually just for you to meet with the prosecutor and determine if any plea deals are on the table, and for you to announce to the court whether you are pleading innocent or guilty. If you plead innocent, then a trial date will be set. Prior to a trial, there could be various hearings, motions, discovery, etc. Again, if you are not familiar with any of this, then it will require research on your part to learn how to properly handle these issues and not detrimentally affect your chances at winning the case. It would be best if you retained an attorney as soon as possible. At least one of the statements you've made in this post could already be detrimental to your case if the prosecution were to find this post and reasonably link it to you, so I think that you should seek representation so as to prevent further damage to your case.
Answered on Jul 06th, 2017 at 10:41 AM

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