the procedure balances the balance of power

This may come as a surprise, but a criminal lawyer sometimes endeavors, before dissecting the facts, to verify compliance with the law and the rights of his client. Of your rights, as it is true that even the most honest of citizens can suddenly be confronted with criminal justice. It is enough to cause a fatal accident, for example. “Having to do with justice is a violent experience,” explains Ms.^e Anthony Truchy, criminal lawyer in Dijon. It is a balance of power in which the defendant is alone. Mastering the procedure makes it possible to balance this balance of power. »

In a state of law, the rules must be respected by everyone, police, gendarmes, magistrates, because procedural errors can affect the rights of the defense, sometimes seriously when it comes to imprisonment. But, continues M.^e Truchy, “the criminal lawyer must ask himself the question each time: and if my client was my son, my daughter, the person who is dearest to me in the world, what defense would I expect? And the answer is to do everything possible to get that person out of detention when they are incarcerated”.

“To constantly train and track, in each file, the errors that the police, the magistrates could have made…”

Detention, reminds the lawyer, must remain the exception. And 29% of detainees in France are in pre-trial detention, awaiting trial. “Mastering the procedure sometimes makes it possible to achieve this. It is no longer exceptional, he continues. It’s a lot of work because you have to train constantly and track down, in each file, the errors that the police, the magistrates could have made… And, as in any profession, when you are a young lawyer , it’s good to have a mentor to guide you. »

Moreover, public opinion sometimes finds it difficult to understand the decisions based on this procedural work. For example, M.^e Anthony Truchy has already obtained the release of people indicted for murders, pending their trial. “These decisions are based on respect for the rights of the defence, he recalls. Rights that we would all like to see applied to ourselves. »

“A game of chess in which everyone knows the rules”

Especially since the lawyer is not alone: ​​“It’s a game of chess in which everyone knows the rules. And the defender “must fight” with all the weapons of law, for his client. Weapons which are moreover not so numerous even if it still happens regularly that lawyers obtain releases, even complete cancellations of prosecution, due to procedural errors.

M^e Truchy is also convinced that the importance taken by the procedure in criminal defense in France, under the impetus of a generation of criminal lawyers over the past twenty years, has enabled each of the parties to become aware of the importance of following the rules. And thus to advance the work of justice.