James Edward Stern

Trial Lawyer
Certified "Advocate" by National College of Advocacy

Criminal law has quite a reputation from cases like the OJ Simpson case and The Diallo case. The public has a reasonably decent grasp of criminal law and a good concept of its proceedings.

Criminal law has its basis in statutes, laws, passed by the legislatures. There are both federal and state crimes.

It is the prosecutor's job to go through and try to prove each element of the crime. The courts guide lawyers and other courts in interpreting each element through their decision.

Then, the defense lawyer tries to go in and deconstruct and disprove parts of the prosecutors elements. If any element of a multiple element crime is disproven, then, the defendant should be found not guilty.

In order to protect both the plaintiff and defendant's rights we work in an adversarial system, where we pay attention to detail. People will gripe about someone getting off on a technicality. Well, on the converse, many innocent people go to jail. The system tries to protect people the best way it can by presenting the best argument possible to the judge and jury. Then, with all of the information, the judge and jury decide.

Also, criminal and civil law can overlap. They are different court systems and operate differently. Criminal trials allow a defendant a jury as a matter of right, while a party in a civil action is entitled to a jury as a matter of right in limited circumstances. A person can be liable in criminal and civil court for the same occurrence and it is not double jeopardy.