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DC Federal Cybercrimes Cases: Prosecution

Due to the continued development and dependence on cybertechnologies,  cybercrime cases in Washington, DC are taken very seriously by local and federal law enforcement officials and prosecutors. Additionally, the complicated nature of cybercrimes might mean a long and drawn-out trial. If you have been accused and/or charged with a federal cybercrime, contact a DC federal cybercrime lawyer to help you begin establishing your defense.

What Prosecution Needs to Prove in DC Cybercrime Cases

Depending on the statutes being used, prosecutors have to show that a particular person, or a group of people if we are talking about a conspiracy, violated one of the numerous federal statutes which can be used to prosecute cybercrime. In a conspiracy case where there allegedly was an attempt to commit conspiracy to unlawfully access the computer system of a particular company, the prosecutors will have to prove that two or more members of the conspiracy agreed to undertake that illegal activity and that they then committed an overt act in furtherance of that conspiracy.

Evidence in Cybercrime Cases

The government prosecutors will most likely get an expert to explain complicated concepts to a jury. Normally what will happen is the prosecutor will use visual aids such as a PowerPoint presentation or illustrations to try to explain the concept to a jury, because it is difficult for people who do not have exposure to these types of concepts on a day-to-day basis to fully understand them.

The jury’s understanding of these concepts is a key issue because it is crucial that a jury understand from both the prosecution’s and the defense’s perspective the concepts that are necessary for either the government to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt or the defense to show reasonable doubt in a case. How you take complicated material and make it easy to understand for someone who has not had previous exposure to it is a critical issue.

However, this is also an issue in any case where there are complicated scientific or technical concepts. For example, when DNA first came on the scene in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, it was a difficult concept for jurors to understand and required the use of a lot of experts. As DNA has become much more part of our common culture, it has become a lot easier for jurors to at least grasp the concept, because they have been more exposed to it, at least generally.

With issues of cyber technology, there are some jurors who have exposure to this. It is not completely foreign, but the specific technical concepts are not necessarily familiar to everyone so it does require an expert to explain it to them.

Federal Prosecutors in DC Cybercrime Cases

Federal prosecutors in D.C. prosecute these cases very aggressively because these cases can involve a large number of people who have data unlawfully taken from them and this can involve large amounts of money or proprietary information being taken from companies. Therefore, the cases are taken very seriously.

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