Miami, Florida Capital Crimes Lawyer
People accused of capital crimes are not entitled to pre-trial release. Please refer to the Violent Crimes section of this website regarding the potential for pre-trial release.
Capital crimes require multiple counsel to handle different phases of the case. At least one attorney should handle the guilt phase of the case, which is the trial to determine whether the accused is guilty of the facts alleged. At least one attorney should be responsible for the penalty phase, which is the portion of the case which determines whether a life should be taken for the crime alleged. Although it appears to be a defeatist attitude to retain a penalty phase attorney early in the process, such strategy is required because the jury who finds guilt also determines the penalty. Consequently, one is required to prepare both phases simultaneously in order to have the jury deliberate both aspects of the case in a timely fashion, just in case a jury comes back with a guilty verdict. Pursuant to the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, the primary attorney for each phase needs to be properly licensed to handle capital cases.
The guilt phase attorney will concentrate on litigating the case to determine appropriate defenses as is done in any criminal case. The penalty phase attorney will review issues such as the nature of the crime, psychological profiles of the accused and family history of the accused in order to develop mitigating sentencing factors which may save the life of the accused.
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