Colorado Criminal Lawyer BlogA Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Duty To Tell The Absolute Truth To Their Client
By H. Michael Steinberg, A Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer – Practicing Colorado Criminal Law from both sides of the courtroom for over 40 years.
Introduction: The Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Duty Of Absolute Candor To Their Clients In Criminal Cases
In Colorado criminal cases, one of the most important—but often misunderstood—obligations of a defense lawyer is the duty of absolute candor toward their client. This duty means that, within the bounds of confidentiality and professional ethics, a Colorado criminal defense lawyer must be honest, straightforward, and complete in the information they share with the person whose liberty, reputation, or even life may be at stake.
At its core, candor requires that a criminal defense lawyer clearly explain the charges, the possible range of penalties, and the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence. Clients need to know what they are truly facing so they can make informed decisions about how to proceed:
- whether to go to trial,
- accept a plea offer,
- cooperate with authorities, or
- pursue other legal strategies.
Clients are many times angry, emotional, combative, even conspiratorial in their mindset. Now is not the time to distort reality or to render unjustified optimism which could lead a client to reject reasonable offers or take risks they do not fully understand.
Absolute candor also includes being open about the limitations of the lawyer’s role and the unpredictability of the criminal justice process. No lawyer can guarantee a specific outcome. An experienced attorney will explain critical factors that affect the case such as:
- the judge’s sentencing tendencies,
- the credibility of key witnesses and their impact on a jury,
- the admissibility of certain evidence,
- and the impact of prior convictions (if any)
…..without promising results that cannot be controlled.
In addition, a defense lawyer must be truthful with the client about the lawyer’s own advice and concerns.
If the attorney believes a certain strategy is dangerous, legally unsound, or inconsistent with the client’s long-term interests, the client must hear it plainly, even if it is not what they want to hear.
Candor sometimes means delivering hard truths: that the evidence is strong, that acquittal is unlikely, or that a plea agreement, though difficult to accept, may significantly reduce exposure to severe penalties if the client is found guilty at trial.
Absolute candor ensures that the client’s decisions are grounded in reality rather than guesswork or false hope. Absolute candor strengthens the attorney–client relationship, helps clients feel respected and involved in their own defense, and ultimately supports a fairer and more transparent process, even in the most difficult and high-stakes cases.
Understanding The Complex and Very Difficult “Hard Truths” Meeting
Purpose of the “Hard Truths” Meeting
- A Serious Discussion: The lawyer discusses the gravity of the client’s situation, including the charges they face and the possible repercussions.
- Honesty and Transparency: The lawyer stresses the importance of the client being honest about their circumstances. This transparency is vital for building an effective defense strategy.
- Strategic Planning: The meeting allows the lawyer to outline possible defense strategies based on the client’s admissions and the facts and evidence in the case.
The balance of this article focuses on a deep dive into the gut check hard truths that may be addressed in this candid conversation which MUST take place.
Hard Truth 1: Feelings Do Not Change Evidence
You can be innocent and still look guilty. You can be guilty and still have a defensible case. Both can be true at the same time, and that is part of what makes some criminal cases so very difficult.
Clients often start with a story. A long story. Sometimes it is heartfelt and honest, sometimes it is defensive, sometimes it is an inconsistent group of assertions grouped together into a story. Early on, your lawyer has the obligation to step in and basically say:
I hear you.
But now we need to talk about what is real and not real.
The courtroom is not about therapy. It is not even really about truth in the way people understand it. It is about proof. It is about what a judge will allow into evidence under the rules of evidence. It is about what a jury will believe, and what can be attacked, framed, explained, suppressed, or excluded from the evidence that reaches a juries eyes and ears.
And yes, it is unfair. It can feel disgusting.
So when your lawyer keeps asking you for information you think is pointless, they are not being cold. They are trying to map a persuasive story onto the evidence. Where it fits, where it does not and where it just collapses.
Hard Truth 2: Is That the Police Report Is Not “What Happened”
It does not matter that the report is wrong. We have to prove it is wrong.
Hard Truth 3: Is That What You Say Can Hurt You, Even If You Think You Are Helping Your Case
This one causes problems, real problems between lawyers and their clients.
People naturally want to explain themselves. They want to correct the record. They want to tell their side, especially when they are scared and anxious or when they are angry or when the accusations against them feel humiliating.
They naively believe that if the can just talk to the police, they can just clear this up. The criminal justice system will just understand.
A defense lawyer has to say it plainly:
Stop Talking. Stop Texting. Stop Posting. Stop Calling People to “Fix It”
Even your “innocent” explanation can lock you into a timeline that later turns out to be inconsistent with other unknown and more objective data. A mistaken disclosure can be used by a smart DA as an admission. An apology might be framed as an expression of guilt. Anger can be framed as a kind of a “consciousness of guilt.”
When a lawyer tells you to shut it down, they are not being dramatic. Hwy are trying to keep you from building the prosecutor’s case against you using the evidence you provide to them.
Hard Truth 4: Is That Some Evidence Hits Like A Brick
There are cases where the evidence is thin, messy, and contradictory.
Then there are cases where the evidence is heavy. Video. DNA. A confession. A controlled buy. A sting operation. A gun with prints. Location data. A series of texts that read like a screenplay of the crime.
In those cases, defense lawyers must still defend their case. Experienced lawyers look for constitutional violations. Chain of custody issues. Lab contamination. Misinterpretation. Overcharging. Alternative explanations. Faulty identification. Bias. Illegal searches. Unreliable informants.
But they also have to look a client in the eye and say:
In my opinion, a jury will believe the State’s case.
We need to prepare for that reality.
That does not mean we give up. It means we must not live in fantasy. We must start thinking about mitigation, damage control, any negotiation leverage, and trial themes that do not require the jury to believe something impossible.
Sometimes the best defense is not “it did not happen.” Sometimes it is “the state cannot prove the most serious charges.” Sometimes it is “yes, but.”
Hard Truth 5: Is That A “Good Deal” Can Still Feel Horrible
Plea deals are a punch in the gut for a person charged with a crime with no criminal past. It can feel like being forced to accept punishment even though you don’t think it’s just or fair.
A Colorado criminal defense lawyer has to explain the math. The peril. The difference between what the prosecutor is offering as a plea bargain and what you could face after a trial.
The lawyer has a duty to explain the hidden risks that clients don’t think of at first. Mandatory minimum sentences. Sentence enhancements. Back-to-back time. Traps of lengthy probation terms. Registration requirements in sex crime cases. Loss of the right to bear arms. Effect on employment. Housing. Travel. Family court – child custody implications.
‘Good’ deals can be viewed as resolutions that avoid worse or catastrophic outcomes.
While any plea bargain may seem unfair and unjust, the hard truth is that it may be the best option available among only bad options.
And yes, feeling sick about all of it is normal. Defense attorneys experience that every day.
Hard Truth 6: Is That The Prosecutor Is Not Your Friend, And The Judge Is Not Your Therapist
Many Colorado criminal defendants come to court believing they are going to charm their way through the process. They will explain themselves to the DA or to the judge that this entire case was all a big mistake and that they are good people.
The job of the prosecutor is not to try to understand the accused, it is to get a plea or to convict you at trial. The trial judge is not there to make the defendant “feel better” but to run a court room and to apply the law.
When a lawyer says, “Don’t talk in court unless I tell you to,” they are protecting you from yourself from the truth of the roles of the people who run the criminal courtrooms of Colorado.
A courtroom isn’t the place to improvise. It is a place where every word can be measured, recorded, and possibly used against you. Judges warn the unwary thousands of times a year in every courtroom in the country.
If your lawyer is blunt about a judge, it’s probably because the lawyer know that judge’s patterns and history. Judges are people.
Who is granted bail? Who isn’t? Why the difference?
Who hates certain kinds of excuses? Who has no patience for any excuses at all?
Which Court imposes the strictest probation terms?
Who won’t tolerate anyone talking over him or her?
This isn’t cynicism. This is experience.
Hard Truth 7: Is That The “Victim” Is Not Always Lying, And Not Always Telling the Full Truth Either
In difficult cases, especially domestic violence and sexual assault allegations, clients often want one clean label. They want the accuser to be lying, pure evil, making it up out of whole cloth.
Sometimes that is true. Completely false accusations do happen.
On the other hand sometimes the accuser believes what they are saying. Sometimes memory is messy. Trauma is messy. Alcohol intoxication is messy. Jealousy is messy. Relationships are messy. People fill gaps. People reinterpret events later. People tell half-truths because the full truth makes them look bad, too.
A criminal defense lawyer has to handle all of this complex confusion this without insulting a jury. Because juries do not like a defense that feels like uncontrolled and unnecessary attacks toward the complaining witness. Even when the defense has real reasons to challenge their credibility.
So the hard truth might sound like:
We can attack the story, but we have to do it intelligently, stealthily, carefully.
Juries are made of people: parents, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. They rarely condemn a person for being human.
A jury needs permission to doubt.
That means focusing on inconsistencies, incentives, timelines, physical evidence, prior statements, and alternative explanations for damaging evidence and not just calling someone a liar and hoping the jury nods along.
Hard Truth 8: Is That Your Lawyer Cannot Help You If You Sabotage Your Case
There are people who treat their case like a movie they have seen, and themselves like the main character in that movie.
To these defendants the laws and rules do not apply to them. They violate no-contact orders. They keep using drugs or alcohol while on pretrial release. They threaten or try to coerce witnesses. They skip court, lie to probation, or show up late. They post online about the case. They text message the alleged victim “just to talk.”
Then they look at their lawyer like, ” Why is this going badly?
Defense lawyers have to say it clearly:
I can fight the case.
I cannot fight you.
Your behavior while the case is pending becomes part of the story. Judges notice. Prosecutor’s notice. Juries notice, if it gets that far. Pretrial services notices. And when you hand the state new violations of court orders or even new crimes committed while on bond, you give the system – the powers against you – leverage. You make bail harder. You make negotiations more difficult or impossible, and you make sentencing uglier.
Hard Truth 9: Is That Trial Is Risky, Even With A Strong Defense
People talk about “taking it to trial” as if it were an act of courage that guarantees respect as if in a gangster movie.
The decision to take a case to trial IS an exhibition in courage. sometimes. And s= sometimes it is a foolish and unnecessary risk. Real risk.
What I tell my clients is this: After we have reviewed the State’s evidence carefully and conducted out own fact investigation – then and only then, is the decision to go to trial examined as an option.
Trials are not simply about facts. They are about storytelling, credibility, juror psychology, evidence rules, and the randomness and sometimes chaos of the courtroom. A key witness shows up stronger than expected. A juror connects personally with the alleged victim. A piece of evidence you thought would be excluded comes in. An expert performs well. Or poorly. The judge makes a ruling you did not expect.
Even a good case can end in a guilty verdict. A bad case can win. That uncertainty is the core of the decision a true gamble.
A Colorado criminal defense lawyer is not trying to scare you away from trial when they talk about risk. They are trying to make sure you understand what you are choosing. Because you live with the outcome, not them.
Hard Truth 10: Is That “Winning” Is Defined On A Case By Case Basis And Is A Complex Concept
Sometimes winning is a dismissal by the prosecutor after months of discussions. Sometimes winning is a not guilty verdict after a difficult battle in court. Both do happen.
And sometimes wining is smaller. A charge reduction. A Judge’s ruling that keeps out the most damning evidence. A plea to a non-registerable offense. A sentence that avoids jail or prison. A treatment option imposed by a thoughtful Judge instead of incarceration. A probation structure that is actually aimed at rehabilitation such as addressing a mental illness. A deal that protects immigration status. A conviction that does not destroy a college career.
Defense lawyers know that what it means to win is case dependent and not as in television shows such as Law and Order SVU. The system is not designed to give everyone a clean slate. It is designed to process cases.
These “hard truths” are not conveyed to crush you but to help you understand the alien world in which lawyers live their lives.
Here is the part people miss. A criminal defense lawyer telling you the hard truths is not betrayal. It is in accordance with reality. It is the difference between planning and panicking.
They are trying to help you make decisions that make sense later in your life not when you are sitting in a courtroom feeling angry and defensive and not when it is too late to undo the things you said, the things you posted, the calls you made, the violations you picked up, the deal you rejected without understanding the risk.
And if you are in a difficult criminal case right now, this is the simplest, most practical advice that tends to matter:
- Cease discussing the case with anyone except your lawyer.
- Follow every court order as if it were a landmine. Because it is.
- Give your lawyer everything. The embarrassing stuff, too. Surprises kill cases.
- Assume the prosecution has more than you think. Plan accordingly.
- Play the long game. This system is slow, and it tests patience on purpose.
The quiet, final hard truth
Even the best criminal defense lawyer cannot guarantee an outcome. Anyone who does is selling you a feeling and not reality.
What they can promise, if they are good and you let them do their job, is this. They will look at the case without flinching. They will tell you what is real. They will fight for every advantage the law allows. They will push back when the state overreaches. They will prepare as if a trial is happening, even when a deal is likely. They will carry the strategy when you are too stressed to think.
They will say the hard stuff. Early. Clearly. Sometimes bluntly.
In difficult criminal cases, that is not cruelty. it is caring in its most difficult but practical form.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What should I realistically expect when hiring a criminal defense lawyer?
Hiring a criminal defense lawyer is not about magic or quick fixes. Often, it entails a detailed review of evidence like police reports, witness statements, and lab results. Your lawyer will share hard truths to help you navigate the judicial system effectively, serving as a translator through a complex and sometimes brutal process.
Why do feelings and personal stories not change the outcome of a criminal case?
In court, the focus is on proof, not feelings or personal narratives. While you may be innocent or guilty, what matters is what can be proven with admissible evidence that a judge will allow and a jury will believe. Your lawyer helps map your story onto the evidence to build the strongest possible defense.
Is the police report an accurate account of what really happened?
Police reports are not neutral transcripts; they are documents written to justify arrests or investigations and often contain bias or incomplete information. Judges and prosecutors may initially treat them as default versions, so defense lawyers work hard to gather additional evidence, such as videos, witness testimony, and specialist analyses, to challenge inaccuracies.
Can talking to the police or others about my case hurt my defense?
Yes. Anything you say—even if meant to clarify or defend yourself—can be used against you. Casual comments might be interpreted as admissions of guilt or inconsistencies. Defense lawyers often advise clients to stop talking, texting, posting, or calling anyone about the case to avoid unintentionally strengthening the prosecutor’s position.
What happens if there is strong evidence against me?
When evidence like DNA, video footage, confessions, or incriminating texts is strong, defense lawyers still explore constitutional violations, errors in evidence handling, misinterpretations, and other defenses. They also prepare clients emotionally for the realities of trial by focusing on mitigating strategies and plea negotiations rather than relying on untenable defenses.
Why might accepting a plea deal feel difficult even if it’s considered a ‘good deal’?
Plea deals can feel like forced admissions of guilt or unfair punishment. However, defense lawyers explain the risks of going to trial versus accepting an offer, taking into account not just term duration but also hidden consequences. Accepting a plea may reduce possible penalties and provide greater control over outcomes than an uncertain trial verdict.
Yet, the mental toll of admitting guilt and the impact on subsequent opportunities can weigh heavily on defendants. Each case calls for a thoughtful evaluation of both legal and personal consequences before making such an important decision.
Colorado Criminal Law – A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Duty To Tell The Absolute Truth To Their Client
The reader is alerted to the fact that Colorado criminal law, like criminal law in every state and at the Federal level, changes constantly. The article appearing above was accurate when it was drafted, but it cannot account for changes occurring after it was uploaded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: H. Michael Steinberg – Email The Author at: hmsteinberg@hotmail.com
A Denver Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer – or call his office at 303-627-7777 during business hours – or call his cell if you cannot wait and need his immediate assistance – please call 720-220-2277.
“A good criminal defense lawyer is someone who devotes themselves to their client’s case from beginning to end, always realizing that this case is the most important thing in that client’s life.”
Putting more than 40 years of Colorado criminal defense experience to work for you.
You should be careful to make a responsible choice when selecting a Colorado criminal defense lawyer. We encourage you to “vet” our firm. Over the last 40 years – by focusing ONLY on Colorado criminal law – H. Michael has had the necessary time to commit to the task of constantly updating himself on nearly every area of criminal law, to include Colorado criminal law and procedure and trial and courtroom practice.
H. Michael works hard to get his clients the best possible results in and out of the courtroom. He has written, and continues to write, extensively on Colorado criminal law and he hopes this article helps you in some small way.