The truth

Mitigation is useful in ANY criminal case and should always be considered as it relates to an appropriate sentence.

1. A competent Mitigation/Sentencing Specialist will tell you "mitigation is not an excuse, it is an explanation."

2. A mitigation specialist may be the first person your client has ever come in contact with who actually cares about his/her story.

3. A mitigation specialist will be able to develop a bond with your client and will actually listen to him/her.

4. Mitigation is STORY TELLING. Your client's story begins in your opening statement. It is only effective if you know your client's story and you believe it. **There is a big difference between the client's life story and the story you may be getting as to the circumstances of the crime. It is the story of the client's life you must understand.

5. When you are appointed to a case, your next call should be to a mitigation specialist.

6. Both your guilt defense and your sentencing defense must be cohesive even if you are only presenting your sentencing information to the Judge.

7. "My guy/girl didn't do it but if you think he did give him a lesser sentence because....." is not only a very poor defense strategy but it sets your client up for a big loss.

8. THE BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU WILL EVER MAKE IS TO COMPARE YOUR CLIENT'S LIFE TO YOUR LIFE...THE LIVES OF YOUR FRIENDS OR OTHER ACQUAINTANCES.

9. Unless you have lived in a home without utilities, unless you were born addicted to crack, unless you never met your father, unless you were anemic and vitamin deficient due to poor nutrition, unless you had to raise yourself because there was no one else......YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE.

10. A competent mitigation/sentencing specialist is a person who has the ability to obtain from the client and his/her friends and family members the deepest, darkest, most painful secrets of his/her lives. The painful, humiliating circumstances that have never been shared with anyone until now.

11. Not just anyone can make people who have no reason to trust anyone associated with the "system" trust them...that takes a special skill.

12. It is not the race or sex of the person you ask to join your team that matters, it is the ability of the expert to earn the trust of the client and obtain the information that is vital to his/her defense.

13. Many witnesses will have valuable factual information as well as valuable mitigation information. This is why it is essential your mitigation expert has experience and understanding of factual investigation as well as mitigation.