Violent Crime Attorney in Charlotte

Violent Crime Defense in Mecklenburg County Superior Court

When you are facing violent crime charges, the offense written on your initial paperwork is not always the one your case ends up being about. Classifications in this legal category turn on highly specific, contestable details. Crucial evidence is often ruled out long before a jury ever hears it, and many cases are formally resolved on terms negotiated months before a trial date. In violent crime defense, the most critical work happens well before anyone walks into a courtroom.

Since 1985, DeCurtins Law Office has aggressively defended clients against serious violent crime allegations in Mecklenburg County, including complex assault, robbery, and homicide charges. Attorney Brandon DeCurtins pays particular attention to exactly how police conduct their interrogations, drawing heavily on the thousands of polygraph examinations founder Robert DeCurtins administered before practicing law. Our legal team meticulously compares your charging documents directly against the state statute, scrutinizes every audio and video recording, and builds a targeted defense strategy toward the best possible resolution the facts support.

There is work that can be done before your first court date. Call (704) 313-1131 or contact us online to reach a violent crime attorney in Charlotte.

Violent Crime Charges and the Distinctions That Matter

North Carolina grades violent offenses along extremely narrow lines. An overstated charge on an initial warrant is common enough that it warrants scrutiny every time. 

The charges that prosecutors confuse most often are divided as follows:

• Simple assault and assault inflicting serious injury. A single physical act can lead to either charge, and the classification often turns entirely on how a physician characterizes the resulting injury.
• Assault with a deadly weapon. The state can treat almost any everyday object as a deadly weapon solely on how it was used, rather than on what it was originally built for.
• Common law robbery and robbery with a dangerous weapon. Displaying or implying the presence of a weapon is the only difference. Yet, it moves the offense up several felony classes.
• Burglary and breaking or entering. Burglary strictly requires a dwelling and specific accompanying elements; breaking or entering applies to other types of buildings without those strict requirements.
• Second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. The legal concept of malice distinguishes these two charges, and proving adequate provocation negates that malice.

Reading the warrant directly against the state statute is the very first thing we do, and it is never a mere formality. A charge that overstates an injury, misidentifies a building structure, or attaches a weapon that nobody ever displayed can be successfully reduced or dismissed long before a jury is ever selected.

How Miranda Rights and Coerced Confessions Impact Your Case

One misconception costs criminal defendants more than any other. Police failing to read Miranda warnings does not automatically dismiss a case. It suppresses statements taken during a custodial interrogation, and nothing else. The larger legal question is voluntariness, which is measured against the circumstances surrounding the interview, including how long it lasted, whether a request for legal counsel was honored, what promises were made, and what the officers claimed they already knew.

That is familiar ground for our defense team. We can obtain the full recording rather than rely on a summarized police report. We measure the written claims against what the video shows and pinpoint the exact moment a voluntary conversation turned into a custodial interrogation. 

This same intense review applies to several critical areas, such as:

• Warrantless searches. Examining whether officers lacked the legal authority to enter or search your property.
• Invalid consent. Proving that consent to search was not freely given but rather the result of police pressure or coercion.
• Extended traffic stops. Challenging stops that were carried well past their original legal purpose without a new reasonable suspicion.

A motion to suppress that successfully removes an illegally obtained statement or key physical evidence from the courtroom often removes the prosecution's entire case with it.

Diversion Programs and Alternatives to Incarceration in NC

Deferred prosecution and conditional discharge programs carry strict eligibility limits, and many violent felonies fall completely outside of those boundaries. However, when a case qualifies, or a charge can be reduced to a qualifying range, the alternatives to incarceration are very real.