Many criminal charges are either dismissed or reduced.

You might be assuming that your case is hopeless. Maybe someone told you that criminal cases are "open and shut." Nothing is further from the truth. Many criminal charges are laid when there is little, or no evidence to support a conviction.

The prosecution may not be able to prove the case against you.

Sometimes criminal charges are laid when they can't be proved. This usually happens if the police reasonably believe that you have committed an offense, but they don't possess the evidence required to prove it. They might be hoping that you'll plead guilty.

Always have your case file reviewed by a criminal defense attorney. They'll examine it to see what evidence (if any), exists that would point towards your guilt. If the prosecution can prove the case against you, your criminal charges must be dismissed. You're innocent until proven guilty.

Having your charges reduced (plea negotiations).

Sometimes the prosecution will reduce the charges that you're facing to a lesser offense, even to a "non-criminal" offense. This can happen in a number of ways.

The police may have overcharged you.

Police officers are only human, and sometimes they lay the wrong charge. This can occur because of the hectic conditions that many of them work in, as well as the limited knowledge of the law. Remember that criminal law is complex, and it takes years or study and practice to obtain a true, in depth knowledge of the law. The police simply don't have the time and resources to review every charge. You need to have your defense attorney do that for you.

There may be some evidence of guilt, but not enough to guarantee a conviction.

The police may reasonably believe that you are guilty of a crime. There may even be some evidence pointing toward you as being the person who committed it. But there may not be enough evidence to guarantee a conviction. In other words, this is a situation where you may or may not be convicted if you go to trial.

In these cases, the prosecution may agree to reduce your charges to avoid the possibility of losing the case entirely. You may be willing to plead guilty to a lesser charge, in order to avoid the possibility of conviction.

The bottom line.

No matter what charge you are facing, call a criminal defense lawyer and have them review your file. Learn what evidence exists, and find out the likelihood of conviction, or of having your charges dismissed or reduced.