What are the roles of the prosecutor, Judge, and defense attorney?

In terms of the role of the prosecutor, the judge, and the defense attorney, each of those people have distinct roles. The judge’s role is to be fair and impartial, and to hear the case and decide whether you’re guilty or not guilty, and if you’re guilty to determine what sentence you should receive.

The prosecutor’s role is to pursue the case. They’re supposed to exercise a higher ethical duty, and not try to simply convict you because you’ve been arrested. The reality, though, is that they see themselves as working for the police and they oftentimes see their role as to prosecute you vigorously.

The defense attorney’s role is to defend you. Everything you tell your attorney is confidential; if you admit a crime, that’s privileged and it cannot be revealed. The defense attorney is crucial- it’s a very important part that you really need to pursue in order to assert your rights.

The prosecutor is not there to protect you, really, and the judge isn’t either. Many times, people think that if they can just tell the judge what happened, everything will be fine. Our experience is that that’s not a good idea: you tell your defense attorney everything that happened and let them decide how to pursue your best defense.