My son has been wrongly identified for a crime and I am his witness to where he was, do we still need an attorney?

Your son has been charged with a serious violent felony, and he should be represented by a qualified criminal defense attorney.  If he cannot afford to pay for an attorney of his own choosing, he has a constitutional right to defense counsel appointed by the trial court.

Although your alibi testimony would help your son’s defense, the jury is perhaps more likely to completely reject or discount your testimony simply because you are his mother – i.e., a witness with a clear bias in favor of the defendant. 

Putting aside your son’s extreme youth for a second, even more mature adult defendants need to understand that appearing before a criminal judge or jury is a lot more complex than it may seem.  Real trial judges do not say “I think I’ll allow that” anywhere near as often as their Hollywood counterparts.  The rules of evidence and criminal procedure vary from state to state, and these statutes – as well as those setting forth crimes and penalties – are living documents that periodically are redefined by state and federal appellate opinions.  Even if one has a natural gift for persuasive argument, one cannot win if one does not know the controlling substantive and evidentiary law.  And, there is a great risk that a pro per defendant will (understandably) become overly stressed and emotional during the legal proceedings, which could jeopardize his ability to focus on the legal, evidentiary and procedural issues at hand. 

Further, criminal cases are most often won or lost before the trial begins.  The defendant needs to conduct his own investigation independent of the police work, and he may ultimately need to prepare and present expert witnesses on forensic and/or mitigation issues.  Indeed, dismissal or reduction of charges can often result from an aggressive pre-trial motion strategy operated by a competent criminal defense attorney who knows the current state of the law, has investigated the client’s case and has assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the government’s case.