How Much Can a Co-Defendant Hurt Your Case in a Minnesota Criminal Courtroom?

When you are facing serious criminal charges in Minnesota, many things can hurt you at trial. Sometimes, it is forensic evidence. Sometimes, it is statements that you yourself gave. Sometimes if it testimony from the alleged victim in the case. One piece of evidence that should never be forgotten or underestimated is the power of co-defendant testimony. The power of a co-defendant’s testimony to sink your case cannot be overestimated. This is especially true if the State can convince your co-defendant to flip on you. In other words, the impact of the co-defendant testifying against you in return for a plea deal from the State has the potential to be catastrophic. The strength of this testimony from a jury perspective is that it feels like insider information and it can be quite persuasive. If ups are facing possible co-defendant testimony, contact Jack Rice Defense for a confidential consultation.

“Nobody likes a a snitch.  Even more, self serving testimony certainly doesn’t ingratiate somebody with a jury.  After all, just how big of a liar are they anyway?”

That being said, it is important to consider that a good criminal defense attorney has tools to combat the possibility of a co-defendant taking the stand against you. One option is called severance. This essentially means that there may be a way to separate your trial from there trial rather than having you sit side by side before a jury.  While this in itself may not stop them from testifying against you, at least you aren’t sitting side by side before they do it. Another option is to go after the credibility of the co-defendant themselves.  After all, if a co-defendant is willing to testify, there could be a larger question of whether that person is actually trying to avoid their responsibility in the alleged offense and trying to pin it on you.  A third option is to attack the deal that the co-defendant struck with the Minnesota prosecutor in order to testify against you.  Its always important to consider how far could this person be willing to go, in other words, lie, in order to protect themselves. Juries are certainly thinking about this. All of these are possible options to consider for an experienced criminal defense attorney as they prepare for a criminal jury trial.  This could certainly apply in drug, robbery and theft cases but they could just as easily apply in criminal sexual conduct cases and even homicide cases. 

If you are facing serious criminal charges in the Twin Cities or anywhere in Minnesota, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney.  Jack Rice is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist, a former prosecutor, a former U.S. Federal Agent and the Founder of Jack Rice Defense.  Contact Jack Rice Defense for a free confidential consultation or call 651-447-7650 or 612-227-1339.