Breaking into a Residence
Case Background
Our client entered an acquaintance’s house while he was inebriated. The police attended at the request of the acquaintance and our client was arrested.
We were contacted by a member of our client’s family who resides overseas.
Issues That Arose with the Case and Our Solutions
1. Our client was unsure if his court-appointed lawyer fully understood what our client explained to them. In addition, our client’s family member was also concerned about not being able to directly communicate with our client’s court-appointed lawyer.
After our client was able to explain his circumstances to us in detail, we could clearly explain to him his legal position and how we could assist him. With his consent, we were also able to explain our client’s situation clearly to his family member in English, who had been confused by previous unintelligible translations. We continued to communicate with our client’s family member throughout the case keeping them up to date as the case proceeded.
2. The victim, who was an acquaintance of our client, was unwilling to reach a settlement with our client.
Our client’s court-appointed lawyer took no further action when the victim refused to meet them for a settlement negotiation.
After our client retained our firm, we contacted the prosecutor and asked them to make contact with the victim, requesting that as lawyers for our client we would greatly appreciate the opportunity to open a line of communication with the victim. The victim agreed to this, and we subsequently talked to the victim by phone. Initially the victim was not open to making a settlement with our client. After a number of consultations with the victim, in which we explained how remorseful our client was and how determined he was to not repeat the same mistake again, we successfully negotiated with the victim to reach a settlement with our client.
Result of the Case
Upon reporting to the prosecutor in charge of our client’s case that our client had been able to reach a settlement with the victim and submitting the settlement document to the prosecution, the prosecutor released our client without indictment or fine. With no indictment or fine, our client was able to avoid a criminal record in Japan.
