The Legal Defence In Criminal Law Of Automatism
There are times when someone might be charged with a criminal offence but you say you had a good reason for it. This is where criminal lawyers Melbourne can help you with your defence. Maybe you have been charged with assault but you were actually protecting your property or yourself. The defence would be you had a good reason for how you acted or reacted, and without that reason, you would not have committed any crime. The law is about punishing people whose actions are a threat to others, if you had a good reason for what happened there is a chance of acquittal and the charges being dismissed. This defence is not something you can just raise out of nowhere. It is up to you and your lawyer to have evidence that proves it. Make sure it is a reputable and skilled criminal lawyer who knows what they are talking about. There are different types of defences you and your lawyer might raise, here is a look at Automatism.
Automatism
This is not a common defence. It refers to a situation where your actions were unintentional or involuntary. There were other issues in play, for example, perhaps you have been charged with assault but you were sleepwalking at the time, or you have experienced a great deal of trauma and blacked out so cannot recall the incident. You and your Melbourne lawyer have to prove to the court the following three things;
1) There was an external factor that made you act like that
If you are arguing that there was some external force that caused you to act in that way you need to show it. Some examples of things that would fit this argument are having a strong reaction to a medication, having an epileptic fit, sleepwalking, or some other state where you were not in control of your actions. You cannot use this argument if it was self-induced. If you took more medications than you should have and suffered a reaction that is not a defence. The external factor can also not be a mental illness, that is its own defence, it would not count under Automatism.
2) What you did was not on purpose and involuntary
With this defence, your criminal lawyers Melbourne and you need to show that the actions you are being charged for were not intentional at all and were involuntary. For example, it was a reflex, a spasm or a fit that you had no control over and perhaps as a result you hit someone.
3) You were not mentally ill at the time
When your Melbourne lawyer is arguing Automatism as your defence they cannot also argue that you were mentally ill. A not guilty decision based on mental illness leads to possible things like a stay in a mental health facility. The idea is that you were under a lot of pressure and cracked like any other person might have done, you did not crack mentally and it is highly unlikely to ever happen again. If you do use Automatism as your defence the prosecution will have to prove otherwise or that you were actually mentally ill. Should the defence of Automatism be successful this brings a verdict of not guilty.
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