Codefendants testify against each other literally every day in criminal cases across the country. Tampa criminal attorneys are often asked about codefendants and co-conspirators testifying against each other at their criminal trial. Unfortunately, yes, they can testify against you at your criminal trial and are often encouraged to do so. Tampa criminal attorneys often negotiate with the State Attorney’s Office to get a more favorable plea deal for their client by assisting through testimony against other defendants. For example, if a drug dealing conspiracy involves three individuals, the Tampa criminal attorneys for the first two co-conspirators will often go to the State Attorney’s Office and offer to testify against the third individual in exchange for a lighter sentence. This most often occurs in widespread conspiracies involving drugs and/or some other sort of contraband because the sheer nature and size of the operation requires a large number of individuals. This obviously creates a situation where folks are encouraged to contact the State Attorney’s Office early and often to begin aggressively negotiating the opportunity to testify against their codefendants in exchange for their charges to be reduced, dropped or to receive more favorable plea bargains.
This is often incredibly difficult for folks to understand because they believe their co-conspirators are loyal to them and would never do anything to put them in a worse situation during the criminal matter. It’s important to highlight to folks though that once lengthy prison sentences, probation and//or fines are in the face of folks, their loyalties obviously change. These penalties and sanctions result in codefendants testifying against one another routinely.
If you have questions concerning your Tampa criminal case or would like to contact one of our Tampa criminal attorneys about whether your codefendants testify against you or not, we always offer free case consultations and will sit down with you to determine an effective strategy to fight your case and protect your rights. If you’d like to contact one of our Tampa criminal attorneys immediately, please use the “contact us now” tab in the upper right-hand corner of our website. We’ve handled thousands of criminal cases in the Tampa Bay area and will work hard to protect your rights. We appreciate your taking the time to check out our Tampa criminal attorney blog and look forward to working with you in the future.