Criminal and civil trials are very different types of trials, but there are instances when the outcome of a criminal trial can help a civil trial. This occurs when a person is accused of a crime that caused another person to be injured and the injured person decides to sue them for compensation for the injuries. One example of this would be an assault where the victim needed to spend time in the hospital to recover. These cases are handled completely separately, but there are times when a Civil Attorney in Mount Vernon WA might take advantage of a guilty verdict to help their case.
A Not-Guilty Verdict Won’t Hurt the Case
Criminal cases don’t have a direct impact on a civil case for the same person and crime. This means that if the person is found innocent in the criminal case, it doesn’t mean they will be found innocent in a civil case. Criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt while civil cases only require a preponderance of the evidence. In other words, the jury for a criminal case must be very sure before giving a guilty verdict, but in the civil case, they only need to be reasonably sure.
A Guilty Verdict Can Help the Case
Even though the criminal case doesn’t have a direct effect on the civil case, a guilty verdict can help. If the person has already been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal court, it’s easy to prove they are guilty by a preponderance of the evidence in the civil case. A civil lawyer may choose to wait for the guilty verdict before beginning the civil case to take advantage of this and use the guilty verdict to show the person was responsible for the victim’s injuries.
Anyone who has been injured by another person during the commission of a crime or as the result of a crime has the option to seek advice from a Civil Attorney in Mount Vernon WA about obtaining compensation for their injuries. This case can be tried in court at the same time as the criminal case though it may be a good idea to wait for a guilty verdict to make the civil case easier to prove. For more information or to talk to a lawyer about your injuries, Click Here.
