Broward DUI Lawyer Blog

A bizarre case is being reported out of South Florida recently, as a homeless man was arrested and charged with committing a robbery in West Palm Beach, though he told police he was forced by three men to do it. The Palm Beach Post reports.

In cases like this, police must do extra work to determine who is telling the truth. Understandably, police officers are typically skeptical of suspects because most have had every lie possible told to them in their line of work. It's not uncommon for some officers to disbelieve just about every person they suspect has committed a crime.

But there are instances where people tell the truth and the police disregard them anyway. That's when an experienced Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer should enter the picture and take over the task of talking with authorities about the charges.

There are instances when a defense lawyer can use the facts of the case along with some persuasion, to get prosecutors either to drop charges or file less serious charges. Sloppy police work can allow this to happen.

You see, the charges that police arrest a person on aren't necessarily the charges that the state attorney's office will file. What typically happens is after police make an arrest, the officer writes up a report and marks and photographs any evidence that was collected.

Supervisors sign off on the work and after a certain time period, prosecutors are handed the case. They then have a deadline to file formal charges with the court. Sometimes, what the police charged is what the prosecution charges, but sometimes it changes.

That's because the police and the prosecution have different standards of proof. For the police, it's simply probable cause. That means reasonable suspicion to believe a person has committed a crime. That's as simple as a house was broken into and a person was seen nearby. That could be an example of how basic probable cause is.

But the prosecutor's burden is proof beyond all reasonable doubt. That's a much higher standard than what police officers have, so sometimes the charges can change from the time of arrest to when formal charges are filed with the court.

Proof beyond all reasonable doubt means that if there is any amount of doubt that the person is guilty, the defendant must be found not guilty. There are examples of reasonable doubt in many cases that must be taken into consideration.

In this case, the 44-year-old claims that he had been held captive by three men and was forced to commit several crimes. He is charged with robbery and is being held without bond.

Sheriff's deputies report that he alleged walked into a postal center one recent afternoon and demanded money. The clerk ran off to another business to call police and when she returned, there was $400 missing from the register.

The next morning, the man called police to report that he had been held captive at gunpoint and was forced to commit several crimes. He gave them the street names of three men, whom he said were holding him at a trailer park. Police said the man couldn't provide any additional descriptions of the three men.