A Brief Look at Robbery Defenses

Charges involving theft are notoriously complicated. There are actually different categories of these types of crimes. Under Maryland law, robbery is considered to be a crime against the person—the same category as charges such as stalking, harassment, and kidnapping—and it involves taking property directly from someone through force or intimidation. There are many different strategies a criminal lawyer might use to respond to a robbery charge. A criminal defense attorney near La Plata might use the “true owner” defense, for example, which involves proving that the defendant was actually the rightful owner of the property. However, since robbery also involves force or the threat of it, it is generally best if the criminal lawyer can also prove that the other party committed a violent act against the defendant.

Another robbery defense that a criminal attorney might use is intoxication. Sometimes, it can be proven that a defendant was so intoxicated that it would have been impossible for him or her to intend to commit the robbery. In other cases, the criminal attorney might rely on the burden of proof belonging to the prosecutor. If the criminal attorney can demonstrate that the defendant’s whereabouts at the time of the act were uncertain, then it cannot be definitively proven that he or she committed the act.