In the words of the great Roman jurist Domicio Ulpiano, “Justice is to give each what is due”. But what really happens in our courts?
One Monday night in October 2017, my client called. His trial began the following day and he was worried. Quite understandable, I’m sure you would agree, if you found yourself facing trial for a crime that you had not committed and a Prosecutor demanding 3 years in prison and compensation of more than € 100,000 on conviction.
I told him to relax; that what was done was done. Now we just had to follow our strategy and wait. Everything would be fine.
In the afternoon, the client breathed a sigh of relief. The Prosecutor withdrew the accusation because of a lack of evidence, and the Court immediately acquitted him of the charges. He was pleased, and I was too; thinking on how Ulpiano’s maxim had been applied.
The next morning though, there was another call from my client. He confessed that he had in fact committed the crime and thanked me for the service.
I wrote this article to convey the importance of having a lawyer you trust.
According to the Department of National Security, citing data from the Ministry of the Interior: “the crime rate in Spain in 2016 was 7.4 points less than in 2015. Today, there are 43.2 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants.
The number of crimes per capita does not take into account those where no conviction is made. Obviously, the Ministry of the Interior should not be expected to publicize the impact of lawyers on official statistics, but our work and professionalism is significant.
Your lawyer will work for you to prepare an efficient defense, evaluate risks and control their consequences. Contact him or her; it’s never too late.
