Criminal defence investigations

Gathering evidence in favour of clients

There is a widespread belief that investigations can only be carried out by the Public Prosecutors and their teams, who in turn use the help and expertise of the Judicial Police; but this is not the case. The defence, in fact, can also play an important role in investigations, especially in finding those exculpatory evidentiary elements that the Public Prosecutor has overlooked and/or in totally or partially demolishing the accusatory structure built by the latter.

Defence criminal investigations consist of all those inquiries performed and conducted by the defence lawyer for the benefit of the defendant-client and which fall fully within the scope of the right of defence. With regard to such investigations, the lawyer may be supported by a private investigator, who will actively cooperate with the former in gathering evidence in favour of the defendant.

The active role of this type of investigation may even prove decisive in the revision process, although the hypotheses in which the latter may be granted are very narrow and circumstantial. Specifically, it is the finding of new evidence in relation to evidence already presented and submitted at previous levels of judgement, whose entry is requested at the new level of judgement and which is so important that it can reopen the trial of a party already definitively convicted to the point of a full acquittal.

The investigative agency can play an active role as an expert witness for a party in the search for evidence and the acquisition of valuable information that may prove crucial at trial. Among the various activities that the private detective can undertake, we mention only a few, without claiming to be exhaustive: inspections, interviews, information gathering and access to locations.

Lastly, the detective agency can be hired as a consultant and expert by both parties involved in the trial (i.e. by the public prosecution and the defence).

In addition to the above, it should be noted that a detective agency can be of assistance in the pre-trial stage: think of all those cases in which the evidence gathered by a private detective is attached to support and back up the complaint made by a citizen who has suffered a crime (e.g. evidence to support complaints of abuse, harassment, violence, damage, etc.) in order to proceed with the appropriate and due legal action.