3 Reasons Why Hiring a Private Defense Attorney is Better than Using a Public Defender

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If you've watched any cop dramas on TV, like any of the Law and Order shows or a myriad of others, you've probably seen a police officer read someone their rights. These are the suspected criminal's Miranda Rights. One of the most prominent ones is that anyone who the police arrest can have a lawyer represent them, even if they cannot afford to hire a private one.

If you can't afford an attorney, or if you choose not to hire a private one, that means the court will appoint you a public defender. There are always public defenders available, but you should almost always go with a private attorney if it's within your power to hire one. Let's talk about some of the most prominent reasons why right now.  

A Public Defender Might Have Almost No Courtroom Experience

If you're wondering why you should hire a private defense attorney instead of a public one who the court appoints you, probably the most obvious reason is that the attorney the court appoints you might have just passed the bar a matter of days or weeks ago. The reason why they might work for a short time as a public defender is because they want to get a little hands-on experience with the legal system.

They'll want to see what it's like to stand up in a courtroom setting, interact with a judge, and learn the ropes. They have read all about these scenarios before, but now they are experiencing them for the first time.

This is not to say that this individual will not do their best to support you in court or advise you about what they feel your best move should be. However, since they've likely had almost no prior experience, the likelihood that they could make a crucial mistake is very high. Obviously, since you stand accused of a crime, having an inexperienced lawyer speaking for you could prove disastrous.

You Can Choose aLawyer Who Specializes in Representing Individuals Accused of Your Particular Crime

You should also realize that there are all kinds of lawyers who specialize in all types of legal areas. There are environmental lawyers, lawyers who specialize in social justice causes, corporate lawyers, and many more.

Any lawyer should know a little bit about many areas of the law, but virtually every attorney will pick a specialty and know more about that than they do anything else. They might do this because they want to make as much money as possible or perhaps because they feel passionate about one particular issue.

If you hire a private lawyer, you can make sure they know everything there is to know about the particular crime of which you stand accused. If the prosecutor has accused you of first-degree murder, for instance, it makes sense you would hire a lawyer who has defended individuals who have been in your same situation.

If they have a proven track record of getting defendants off who werein situations like yours, you should feel a lot more confident than if the court assigned you a random public defender who has never represented anyone in such a high-profile case.

You Want a Lawyer with as Many Resources as Possible

If you settle for a public defender, it will cost you nothing, but you will also have to rely on only their resources to mount your defense. Those resources are probably next to nothing, other than advice they can give you based on what they've read in law books while studying to pass the bar.

On the other hand, if you pay to hire a private attorney, they might have a prestigious firm's weight behind them. That includes clerks who they can assign to do research on your particular crime and similar previous cases. They will also probably have investigators on retainer who they can instruct to start finding out the most minute details that might exonerate you during your trial if it does come to that.

They will probably have expert witnesses standing by who can testify on your behalf if the case goes to trial. If they feel like pleading guilty to a lesser crime is in your best interest, they can get you the best possible deal, where a neophyte lawyer could not.

In nearly every conceivable way, hiring a private lawyer if the prosecutor charges you with a crime is in your best interest.