Carjacking Lawyer
Virginia Carjacking Lawyer
Carjacking is one of the most familiar car crimes. It’s often displayed on television or in the movies. Someone commits a crime, usually theft of something extremely valuable. The person frees the crime scene, item in time, and they jump into a car. This car is usually not their own. The driver, typically surprised, screams for help and the suspect brings out a knife or a gun and tells the driver to get out. Obeying means living, so the driver does. The suspect flees in the stolen automobile.
People rely on the use of their cars to perform daily activities, such as getting to work. This makes the automobile an important item in someone’s life, and not only is it important, but it’s expensive. Virginia takes carjacking seriously and provides serious penalties. Therefore, if you have been charged with a carjacking crime, reach out to a carjacking lawyer in Virginia today.
Is Carjacking the Same as Grand Theft Auto?
Carjacking and grand theft auto are two separate crimes. The distinction between them is violence. Carjacking is when you take a vehicle by force, using threats, intimidation and other forms of violence. Grand theft auto is simply stealing a car that nobody’s inside of. This means there is no force, and nobody is injured in the actual robbery.
Mistaken Identity?
Because carjacking happens mostly at night, there are often many cases of mistaken identity when the police are trying to identify the suspect at hand. The nighttime gives the assailant perfect cover for hiding their face and getting away, being mostly anonymous. This, coupled with the fact the victims of carjacking are under duress when the incident happens, means that they may describe the assailant and it may be a misdescription.
The state relies on the victim’s identification of the perpetrator, even without physical evidence to support the identification. Muddled facts, misremembered details, even eyewitnesses to the crime are not going to be able to identify someone in a carjacking without a bit of doubt.
Long sentences have been handed to the wrong person, when later evidence turns up that they were not the reason behind the carjacking. Therefore, if you are accused of carjacking in Virginia, seek a carjacking lawyer in Virginia to help you with your case.
You deserve to be innocent until proven guilty.
How Long Are Sentences for Carjacking?
You can receive a prison sentence, as carjacking is considered a felony, of a minimum fifteen years.
There are many potential ways for your lawyer to defend you. If your lawyer can prove you had an alibi at the time of the carjacking, you’re more than likely going to see those charges dropped. However, there are other things involved in carjacking that must be proven, such as the threat, the use of a weapon, whether the vehicle is legally yours, and more.
A good lawyer, such as the lawyers at May Law, LLP, can build a defense in an attempt to prove your innocence in a criminal case, such as carjacking.