Seattle Burglary Defense Lawyer
Focused on Defending Your Rights and Liberties
Burglary is a serious crime with serious consequences. An arrest and conviction for a residential burglary, or any other property crime, can be a life-changing event that may result in stiff penalties, including state prison time. Residential burglaries and home invasions are always in the news and have reached epidemic proportions in many communities. Courts routinely hand out stiff penalties, even to first time offenders. Highly publicized Craigslist cases resulting in home invasions have focused public attention on the need to inflict stiff punishments for Burglaries.
To convict you of burglary, theft or any other "specific intent" crime, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you had a specific mental intent during the commission of the crime. In a burglary case, for example, the government must prove not only that you entered the premises but also that you did so with the specific intent to commit a crime while inside. This specific mental intent is a required element of the offense, and the entire case can be defeated if this intent is successfully challenged.
As an experienced criminal defense attorney, I know how to effectively challenge specific criminal intent in burglary prosecutions. These cases present complex factual defenses that require an absolute command of the facts and the evidence. Whatever facts are available to your defense, they need to be presented with the confidence that comes from years of experience and comfort in front of a jury.
If you've been charged with a burglary, please contact me for your free initial consultation.