Can my Case get Dismissed

When you speak to one of our Philadelphia criminal lawyers, our goal is to help your case get dismissed. Not every defendant who faces criminal charges will end up going to trial, or take a plea. Many cases get dismissed by the prosecutor or by the court. The first thing our Philadelphia criminal attorney will do is determine whether there are any grounds on which the case can be dismissed before taking a plea deal, or going to trial. Some grounds include, but are not limited to:

Lack of probable cause
Improper criminal complaint
Illegal stop / search
Lack of evidence
Unavailable witness
Loss of evidence
No probably cause to arrest

In order to arrest you, the police must have probable cause to believe you actually committed a crime. Police officers cannot arrest a person just because they have a feeling. The officer must have reasonable cause you did the crime. If the police officer arrests you without probable case, then the evidence they gathered + your arrest can be thrown out.

Mistakes in criminal complaints

When police officers write a criminal complaint/charging document, they have to sign under oath the truthfulness of the contents. If a complaint does not comport with state/local law due to a significant error, or omission. If the officer who was involved in the case is not available to correct the error, then the prosecutor may have to dismiss the complaint.

Illegal stop or search

Police officers can stop a vehicle or a person under very specific circumstances. For example, if a driver is speeding, or violating traffic laws, the police can reasonable suspect a crime is being committed. If a police officer randomly searches a car, or a person, without cause, then this is a violation of the persons rights. Police can only search a car/house if they have a search warrant. Police can search for a person, if there is reasonable belief the person is carrying a deadly weapon – for example. If police conduct a search without a warrant, and no special circumstances permitted the search, then any evidence gathered in the search cannot be used to convict the defendant.

Insufficient evidence

If a defendant is arrested and there are charges pending against him, then the prosecutor has to present the case and show they have enough evidence to establish probable cause. The evidence must show a factual basis for believing the defendant committed the crime.