For example, a person may be charged with the crime of Assault. The person may well have cause injury to another person. The defendant may even have intended to cause the damage. Perhaps a weapon was implemented in doing so. Under these facts, the defendant may well be guilty of a variation of assault.

However, if the defendant did all these things in an effort to protect his/her child from being molested, assaulted, or kidnapped…well then the defendant has a defense! Fortunately, there are defenses listed in the Oregon Revised Statutes. These defenses are both general in nature, as well we specific for a specific crime. For example, the defense of “choice of evils” (in other words, “I had to do this bad thing to prevent an even worse thing from happening—e.g. I had to hit the guy to prevent him from killing my daughter!”) can be applied by someone charged with assault, but it can also be applied by someone charged with DUII (“I had to drive, even though I was drunk, because he needed emergency medical help and no other means to get that help was available”).

An example of a specific defense might be when a person is charged with Driving While Suspended can demonstrate to the court that he/she did not receive notice of the suspension.

Another example is when a person is charged with Identity Theft, the defendant can show that he/she was under 21 and used someone else’s ID to purchase alcohol; or the person was under 18 and used someone else’s ID to purchase tobacco. Believe it or not, this is an affirmative defense to Identity Theft.

In other words….”case dismissed”!

No matter what the charge, you need to seek the advice and counsel of an experienced, competent criminal defense attorney at The CAPETTI GROUP Law Offices today. Call us right away; do not make decisions regarding your matter without getting solid advice from and aggressive, knowledgeable attorney first.