Defence

Roles and Responsibilities of the Defence in a Criminal Investigation 

The defence in a criminal investigation is responsible for defending the person suspected of committing a crime in court. The defence involves defence lawyers and they are involved in the report writing and presentation of evidence in court stage of an investigation. The defence has a number of roles and responsibilities to fulfil within a criminal investigation, these include: Arguing against the prosecution, this is a role designed to provide a defence for a suspect, the defence team will in most cases attempt to gather evidence which contradicts that of the prosecution. Each of the roles of the responsibility of the defence are carried out with the goal of getting the defendant acquitted of the charge they face or being found innocent.

Role of the Defence in the OJ Simpson Case

In the case of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, Johnnie Cochran was one of Simpson’s main defence lawyers and part of the “dream team” as labelled by the media. Cochran presented the argument in court that blood evidence and physical evidence such as the glove found at Simpson’s estate had been planted by members of the investigation team. He claimed that this had been done to frame Simpson by racist investigators who disapproved that a Black male had been married to a white female. Cochran also produced the famous phrase in court, “if it doesn't fit, you must acquit” this was in response to the glove found at the murder scene and suspected to belong to Simpson not fitting his hand when asked to try it on in court.

Role of the Defence in other Investigations

Like the prosecution the defence will only be a part of criminal investigations which make it to court. In every form of criminal investigation the role of the defence will be to defend the accused, of whatever crime they have been charged with. The arguments for the defendant will vary depending on the type of crime they have been accused of. However the Defence’s role and responsibilities will always include attempting to get the defendant acquitted or found to be innocent of committing the given crime.