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FOR THE INNOCENT RESOLUTIONS

FOR THE INNOCENT RESOLUTIONS is a special undertaking division of C. J. Ford Private Investigations that the sole purpose is to evaluate and ascertain investigative remedies to assist Wrongfully Accused Defendants or Wrongfully Convicted Inmates. 

The name INNOCENT RESOLUTIONS in itself means that C. J. Ford Private Investigations is making a firm decision and a commitment to our innocent client’s “claim of innocence”.

Our task in behalf of our clients is to fully investigate their case. We investigate in areas that are being overlooked, or had been overlooked, and are not, or were not, part of the defense attorneys legal strategy. Most convictions result because the attorney was not aware of all the possible investigative intangibles. The lack of investigation and not bringing all matters that are relevant for a constitutional guaranteed 6th amendment defense, usually results in convictions.

The claim of Ineffective Assistance of Council is the most used grounds by defendants to try to reverse convictions that were handed to them by the trial court. Since the right to have an attorney seems to out weigh the right to have proper investigation, the immediate remedy is to get legal assistance. However, attorneys are not investigators! Putting your trust in an attorney to investigate a case is ludicrous.

The facts simply state that an innocent person has a better chance of presenting, defending, and winning a case if the case is fully investigated. It is also a fact, that once an attorney loses a case that wasn’t fully investigated, only a full investigation targeted at bringing new evidence and matters that weren’t investigated or adjudicated in the trial can lend weight to opening up a new trial. Defendants are also misled by the appellate process. Defendants usually believe that their appeal is having their cases tried again. However, the defendant that lost their case in a lower court usually can only appeal on grounds that the judge erred in application of law, or there was court misconduct, or that a finding of fact was entirely unreasonable. The standard is so high to successfully appeal a case, and it only occurs in less than 1% of all cases.

So once a person loses in their appellate process, the only solution that they have is to find something new or was not adjudicated in the trial. There might have been appellate issues raised because something that the defendant perceived as a material fact was never raised by their attorney. This might even be agreed to by the appellate attorney, and put in their Appellate Brief. However, the standards for reversing the case, or having it tried again, due to Ineffective Assistance of Council, are too high and impossible to prove. The trial attorney just has to prove from their prospective, that they had a legal strategy, and believe that it was the best possible defense that they determined and used. The fact that other elements and defenses were not employed to overcome this burden of proof and provide a more convincing defense is irrelevant.

Wrongful conviction cases usually require long-term investigative procedures. This is because all available discovery has to be obtained, and hopefully there is cooperation with the former trial attorney. New issues that are developed by investigative means, must meet the criteria and standards that can be used by new counsel to reopen the case. A defendant might feel that a particular issue was critical to their defense. However the issue that they present might be a moot issue that would not have changed  the resulting made by the trial court. This is why we need to fully investigate the case. There may be a combination of issues that affected “due process” and this sequence was essential in the case. There may also be issues that we may develop, if know at the time, might have changed the outcome of the case. The fact that unknown issues and discovery weren’t raised and were critical, may lead to a new trial.

Then there is the ultimate result of fully investigating a case. This is if the case “itself” could be solved. There are a lot of innocent people sitting in jail today, because someone else committed the crime. The processes that take place after a conviction are never aimed to find the real perpetrator. The justice system is convinced that they have found the real perpetrator. The appellate process is merely aimed at whether or not the defendant had a fair trial. Law enforcement and the courts are content on the conviction, and the fact that someone else is still at-large who really did commit the crime is immaterial.

We believe that an innocent person should never rest when they know they are innocence. Innocent people should always be looking to prove the fact that they are innocence despite the odds. At C. J. Ford Private Investigations we can assure our client(s) that we will work with the defendants, their families, and friends, to continue to look for a solution until all remedies are exhausted. Our goal is to fight for our client’s freedom.