how to write letter to Judge is always a difficult job.
That’s simply because of the seriousness of the issue. You are not corresponding to an ordinary personality so you have to be very much careful in this regard.
You may require to write letter to a judge because of following reasons..
- You have witnessed a crime and wanna help the court
- You want to present some important fact to the judge.
- In order to increase or decrease the limit of bail.
- If you have any special request to make to judge.
- and many many more ways..
So whatever the reason there are some important points to take care in this regard. With some real research on the topic please allow to me present you the useful tips about writing letter to judge.
- All the formalities should be satisfied accurately by this I mean it should contain return address , date and proper salutation to Judge.
- Letter must look like an important piece of note otherwise it may be ignored by the Judge.
- Try to focus on quality and not the quantity of your content, Try be to as concise as possible.
- Don’t ever try to hide facts from the Judge. Any miss information in your letter may prove to be extremely harmful to you.
- One of the most frequent mistake done by letter writer is that they try to decrease the intensity of the act of crime, which is by law not allowed so beware of it.
- If you are writing for someone else then you must clarify your relationship to the person.
- Also note one important thing that you are not writing as lawyer so its okay if you are not 100% professional because your identity as a lay man will be appreciated and Judge will encourage your involvement.
- Your main purpose should be clear and its better if you mention it at the start in SUBJECT line.
- Try to have good command in the communication language.
- Once again don’t try to decrease the seriousness of the offense, your main purpose is to present facts and not change the mind of Judge about the seriousness of the issue.
- Best time to present the letter to Judge is when Judge calls the case.
- Make many copies of the letter because it needs to go to many persons including Judge.
- Make sure that you have included each and every thing which is required.
- Proof read it and check for spelling mistakes to make good impression of yours.
Following is the sample letter to Judge for your reference, I hope you will be benifitted from it.
Sample Letter to a Judge
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Your Name: |
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Date:
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am the victim in the rape case of People vs. Ray Johnson. I just learned that the prosecution and defense have agreed to a plea bargain in this case. The prosecutor has agreed to drop one charge of kidnap and two charges of rape in exchange for a guilty plea from the defendant on one charge of sexual battery. Since sexual battery in California means only that someone sexually puts their hands on another person, I feel this deal is grossly unjust to myself and the community, and I urge you to please reject this deal.
I have already expressed my strong dissatisfaction with this deal to the prosecutor. The prosecutor said he wants to save me the trauma of having to testify. But I am fully willing to testify in this case even though I’m nervous about testifying. I want the truth to be told because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to any other woman.
The prosecutor also said there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute the case. But there were witnesses at key points in the crime and a lot of other evidence too.
I believe the only reason the prosecutor has offered this give-away deal is so that he can avoid the work of having to properly prosecute this case.
In the interests of justice and the safety of our community, I’m asking that you please reject the plea bargain.
Thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely, / faithfully
Name
Signature
HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE
Sample Letter to a Judge
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Your Name: |
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Address: |
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City: |
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Phone Number: |
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Email Address: |
Date:
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am the victim in the domestic violence case of People vs. Ray Johnson. I am willing to testify in this case.
I’m requesting that you please don’t reduce the defendant’s bail. I’m also requesting that you issue a criminal protective order ordering that Mr. Johnson have no contact with me or with our children. My children were present when Mr. Johnson beat me and threatened to kill me two days ago. Mr. Johnson also said if I ever called the police he would take the children and I would never see them again.
I am very afraid of him and believe he is capable of carrying out his threats. He has been violent towards me and the children for the last two years, and every beating is worse than the one before. Please don’t reduce his bail. Please grant a criminal protective order for myself and my children.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely, / faithfully
Name
Signature