Asking “why” is as important as asking “what”.

When people think about criminal defense lawyers, they picture courtroom battles. They imagine dramatic cross-examinations, clever legal arguments, objections, and last-minute victories.

Television has convinced us that being a great criminal defense attorney is about finding the loophole no one else saw or delivering the closing argument that changes everything. Those moments exist. But that’s not usually what happens in Utah’s criminal courts.

After years of representing people accused of crimes, we’ve learned something that surprises almost everyone:

The criminal charge is often just a symptom.

The real problem often begins months – or years – before anyone calls the police.

Sometimes it’s addiction. Sometimes it’s untreated mental illness. Sometimes it’s trauma that was never healed. Sometimes it’s PTSD from military service, a traumatic brain injury, autism, or overwhelming stress caused by a collapsing marriage, financial hardship, or a life that slowly drifted off course.

The arrest is often the first time anyone stops long enough to ask the question that matters most – why did it happen? That question has changed the way we practice law.

Need a good defense attorney? Can you tell the difference?

Of course you want to hire a good defense attorney. But most people don’t have experience distinguishing between an ordinary lawyer and a top-notch criminal defense attorney. Why would they? They don’t know the rules of evidence. They don’t know whether a suppression motion should be filed. They can’t evaluate a cross-examination or tell whether a sentencing memorandum was exceptional. And they shouldn’t be expected to.

When someone calls a criminal defense lawyer, it’s usually on one of the worst days of their life. They’re not thinking about legal strategy. They’re thinking, “My son was arrested.” “My daughter made a terrible mistake.” “I’m in trouble and I don’t know what to do.” That is the conversation we have every day.

People don’t call because they want to learn about the Rules of Evidence or sentencing guidelines. They call because their lives have suddenly stopped making sense. They’re scared. They’re embarrassed. They’re overwhelmed. More often than not, they’re asking a question no legal textbook can answer: “Tell me what to do.”

We rarely meet “bad” people.

Contrary to popular belief, most people we represent are not career criminals. They’re parents, veterans, college students, business owners, teachers, nurses, or construction workers who may have made a bad decision. They are people who spent decades doing the right thing before something in their lives unraveled.

That doesn’t mean they didn’t break the law. Many of them know they did. In fact, one of the most common things we hear is, “I’m not saying I didn’t do it.” What they’re really asking is something much more human: “Please help me understand how I got here.”

Understanding is not excusing.

Some people hear that question “Why?” and immediately worry it sounds like an excuse. It isn’t. There’s a profound difference between an excuse and an explanation. An excuse avoids responsibility. An explanation accepts responsibility while seeking to understand what led there.

That distinction matters – not just morally, but practically.

When someone begins treatment before a judge orders it, confronts an addiction they’ve hidden for years, addresses trauma they’ve carried, or finally receives a diagnosis that explains years of confusion and struggle, something changes. Not just inside that person – the legal case changes too.

Judges notice. Prosecutors notice. Families notice. Most importantly, the chances of that person standing in another courtroom become dramatically smaller. That’s not simply a better legal outcome. It’s a better life.

The courtroom is only part of our job.

Of course we fight cases. We challenge evidence. We negotiate with prosecutors. We file motions. We do jury trials when its the right call. Those are the fundamentals that every criminal defense lawyer should know.

But we don’t believe that the best defense attorneys consider more than just courtroom consequences. If a client leaves our office with a better plea agreement but still has the same addiction, if they avoid prison but never address the depression that brought them here, or if they receive probation yet continue living the same life that led to the arrest, then we haven’t solved the problem. We’ve only postponed it.

That’s why it’s so important to ask questions that law school doesn’t teach a lawyer to ask. What changed? What happened in your life? Why now? What is really going on? Those conversations often become just as important as anything that happens in a courtroom because they don’t just help us defend a case – they help us understand the person whose future depends on it.

Utah’s Criminal Justice System – Room for Redemption

Accountability matters. Victims deserve justice. Communities deserve safety. Nothing about understanding a person diminishes those truths. In fact, real accountability requires more than punishment. It requires honesty. It requires change. It requires doing difficult work of making sure it never happens again. That work isn’t easy, but it is where hope lives.

What questions really matter?

From a prosecutor’s perspective, the criminal case begins with a police report. For a good defense attorney, the case often begins with a question: Why did this happen?

Sometimes the answer is addiction. Sometimes in trauma, untreated mental illness, a brain injury, grief, fear, or simply years of carrying a burden that finally becomes too heavy. Whatever the answer is, finding it doesn’t erase responsibility. It gives responsibility meaning.

We agree that people should be held accountable for what they do. We also believe accountability is most powerful when it leads to understanding, healing, and lasting change. Winning a case matters. Helping someone reclaim their life matters more.