Political defense

A political defense is a defense to a criminal charge in which the defendant asserts at trial the political motivations behind the allegedly criminal conduct. In some circumstances, the defendant might assert political motivations in order to seek acquittal. In other circumstances, defendants might not have a realistic hope of acquittal but may nevertheless use the trial as a forum for expressing political views.

A political defense is distinguished from a legal defense. A legal defense, or a "technical defense", seeks acquittal by demonstrating that the defendant's conduct did not satisfy all of the elements of the alleged crime. In a political defense, the defendant might concede that the conduct took place, but attempt to convince the jury or the public that the conduct was inherently just because of its political motivation. Some defendants might offer both a technical defense and a political defense.

The form that a political defense will take depends on its objective, audience, message, legal theory, and tactics.

There are several reasons why a defendant might attempt a political defense.

Each of these reasons implies a different audience for the political statement. Where the defendant seeks acquittal, the principal audience is the jury. Where the defendant seeks public advocacy, the principal audience is the media that are covering the trial, and through them the public. Where the defendant seeks personal integrity, the audience is himself or herself, or possibly also any collaborators in the conduct being prosecuted.

This difference may influence the choice of legal strategy: if the purpose is public advocacy, then a defendant may attempt to include political statements that would be persuasive to the public even if they would not be persuasive to a jury; the defendant might not be acquitted, but might succeed in communicating the message to the public.

Defendants may have been motivated by several political purposes, and they may choose which message to communicate at trial. This choice is most important where the objective is public advocacy. In other cases, the choice may be more evident: for purposes of personal integrity and confrontation of the state, the defendant probably knows the political views that he or she wishes to communicate; for purposes of acquittal and extracting information from the state, there may be a limited number of arguments that are likely to be successful. However, where the objective is to attract and influence public opinion, the message that is most likely to succeed is not necessarily the same as the political view that principally motivated the defendants.

Rules of evidence require that any statement make in court must be relevant. Defendants must have a legal theory of innocence for which their political message is a necessary element to be proven.

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Wikipedia