The Increasingly Odd Joran Van der Sloot Case

I think most people are familiar with the trial of Dutch national Joran Van der Sloot taking place in Peru.  Van der Sloot is accused of murdering Stephanie Flores.  He was also a top suspect in the Natalie Holloway killing back in 2005, but was never formally charged with the still unsolved crime.

This case has been back in the news recently, and the trial for Van der Sloot was scheduled to begin on Friday, Jan. 6.  It was expected that Van der Sloot was going to plead guilty in light of his confession to the crime to Peruvian police, despite his attorney consistently telling the media that his client's confession was the result of police coercion and a language barrier.  

There was no official guilty plea entered on Friday, however, as Van der Sloot instead requested more time to more thoroughly consider his plea.  This is interesting for a couple reasons.  First, Van der Sloot is still expected to plead guilty in order to garner a more favorable sentence, so it's unlikely this delay will result in any change of strategy.  His decision to delay this plea is indicative of a lack of preparation on the part of the defense team.  Second, all indications are that Van der Sloot was prepared to plead guilty when he walked into the court room, but was not in agreement with all the charges laid against him.  His confusion regarding what he was pleading guilty to is something that should be avoidable.  

Ultimately, it is unlikely this delay in the proceedings will have any real affect on the outcome of the trial, but if Van der Sloot comes back on Wednesday and pleads not guilty, many questions will rise regarding the rationale behind his plea.  

An important element to conducting a competent legal defense is preparation.  The attorney and their client should show up to any hearing regarding their case ready to participate fully.  This is important for a few reasons.  First, it creates an air of confidence that judges, jury members, and the prosecution will pick up on.  As the great Tony Soprano once said, "More is lost by indecision than wrong decision," and he knows a thing or two about defending criminal charges.  Second, being prepared can make your representation cheaper.  Being on the ball can lower the billable hours your attorney is working, meaning that you will get the same effective counsel for less of your hard-earned money.  Lastly, delays due to a lack of preparation will drag out the proceedings, meaning that this experience will take up more of your life than it has to.  Delaying unpleasant situations is as American as apple pie, but the truth is that in the legal world, it's best to get things over with as fast as possible, assuming you aren't sacrificing the quality of your defense for expedition.

It isn't hard to avoid being a part of snafus like this.  One of the jobs of a criminal defense attorney is to make sure that his or her client is fully prepared and informed.  If you're in need of representation regarding a criminal charge, be the charge is something straight forward like a DWI or something complex like felony assault, contact a Minnesota criminal defense lawyer as soon as possible so you aren't wasting valuable time.