In a third strike case, the stakes are as high as in an ordinary murder case. Now is the time to pull out all the stops. In addition to the usual defenses, your lawyer must examine the old cases, called "strike priors" which make the present case a three-strikes case. This is true for second strike cases as well. Can the "strike prior" be challenged on constitutional grounds? Can the court be persuaded to disregard any "strike priors", even if they were constitutional? If the third strike case can be reduced to a second strike case, your exposure of twenty-five-years-to-life-imprisonment is reduced to the sentencing rules applicable to second strike cases, which basically double the statutory sentence available for a given crime.
In addition to the substantial task of attempting to eliminate strike priors, your lawyer must handle the underlying case as though your life depended on it. It does. Perhaps this case can and should be plea bargained down to a reasonable determinate sentence measured in years rather than in decades. Perhaps this case must go to trial. That's your call.
Either way, you need to be sure that you have a lawyer you trust to do the most thorough preparation, who is as ready and eager to go to trial as he is to make a deal. Thorough preparation is the key here. It shows when you discuss your case with your lawyer on the eve of trial. It shows when the prosecutor discusses plea negotiations with him. It shows when you watch your lawyer in trial from jury selection through closing argument.
If you have any questions, please call Mr. Varga.