Criminal Defence Lawyers for Possession of forged documents

You can only be guilty of possessing forged documents if police can prove each of the elements under the particular offence your charged with:

If charged with s145.2(1):

• You have possession of a document;
• You know the document is false;
• You intended to use the document to dishonestly influence another person in their capacity as a public official to accept it as genuine;
• If it was accepted as genuine, you intended to obtain either a gain, caused a loss or influenced the exercise of a public function
• The capacity of the public official is the capacity as a commonwealth public official

If charged with s145.2(3):

• You have possession of a document;
• You know the document is false;
• You intended to dishonestly cause a computer to respond to it as genuine;
• If it’s responded to as genuine, you intended to dishonestly obtain a gain, cause a loss or influence the exercise of a public function
• The response by the computer is in connection with the operation of a commonwealth entity

If charged with s145.2(5):

• You have possession of a document;
• You know the document is false;
• You intended to dishonestly influence another person to accept it as genuine;
• If accepted as genuine, you intended to dishonestly receive a gain, cause a loss or influence the exercise of a public function
• The false document is a commonwealth document

If charged with s145.2(7):

• You have possession of a document;
• You know the document is false;
• You intended to dishonestly cause a computer to respond to it as genuine;
• If it’s responded to as genuine, you intended to dishonestly obtain a gain, cause a loss or influence the exercise of a public function
• The false document is a commonwealth document

You will be not guilty if police are unable to prove each of the above elements of your charge, beyond reasonable doubt, in court.

Defences to this charge

You will be found Not Guilty if:

• Honest and reasonable mistake of fact: where you honestly believed the document was truthful or genuine, in circumstances it was reasonable for you to have held that belief.
• The document was not accepted as truthful, nor responded to as genuine by the third person or a computer.
• You did not have possession of the document
• Duress or Necessity: where you were threatened to or forced to commit the offence

You will be found not guilty and the possession of forged document charge dismissed if any one of the above defences apply to your case. Our senior lawyers specialise in getting these charges dropped early, with a proven record of success for over 20 years. Speak to them to strengthen your best defence early to prove your innocence.

Call us now on (02) 8606 2218.

If pleading guilty to an offence of possessing forged documents, speak to an experienced specialist fraud lawyer on maximising your chances at getting the best outcome. The following are important tips and ways on best preparing your case.

25% Discount on punishment

Pleading guilty at the earliest time in your case to an offence of possessing forged documents will result in a discount on your punishment of up to 25%. This results in a much more lenient outcome by the Judge. The later a plea of guilty to this charge is entered in court, the less this discount becomes.

For this reason, it’s important to get experienced and realistic advice as early as possible in your case, to avoid missing out on this discount.

Good character references

Powerful and well written good character reference letters are read by the Judge who can then give you a much more lenient punishment, causing a much better court result if it expresses the main points. This includes your good character, remorse, shame and insight into your offence.

Our senior lawyers will review each letter and guide you through the process. The letters should come from your friend, family, employer or work colleague, charity and even a letter of apology from you expressing the main points.

Negotiate to drop charges

By knowing the police evidence inside and out, an experienced fraud lawyer can point out all the holes in it, and use this to negotiate with police to drop the fraud charge early. The way to approach the police with this depends on the case.

Our senior lawyers have successfully convinced police to drop fraud charges countless times over the years. They are specialists in getting charges dropped early, and know how to maximise your chances at achieving this outcome.

Negotiate facts

The set of police facts is normally drafted by police and one sided, expressing your offending conduct for what you plead guilty to. This is read by the Judge, often putting you in a bad light, causing a heavier punishment. For that reason it’s critical to change these facts to be more accurate to the truth, reflecting you in a much better light to the Judge reading it. This normally then results in a much better, lenient outcome in court.

Our senior lawyers often negotiate the police set of facts to something much more favourable by picking out all the holes in the police evidence.

Psychologist reports

Having a powerful psychologist or psychiatrist court report prepared for the Judge to read expressing your state of mind at the time, your remorse, insight and shame with an explanation for your actions, often significantly improves the court outcome with a much lighter punishment.

Our senior lawyers will pick the best suited, and leading psychologist or psychiatrist in Australia to your case. This will maximise your chances at getting the best possible outcome.

Maximum penalty

The maximum punishment for an offence of possession of forged documents is a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years. The courts rarely give this, and in fact only reserve it for the most serious offenders. Below are other kinds of penalties the Judge can give.

Types of penalties

The Judge can give you any one of the following types of punishment. Which one you get depends on the above points in your preparation and presentation:

1. Section 10 Dismissal
2. Conditional Release Order
3. Fine
4. Community Correction Order
5. Intensive Correction Order
6. Full Time Imprisonment

For realistic and practical advice on your charge of possessing forged documents, speak to one of our highly experienced specialist fraud lawyers in Sydney. They are extremely well versed with the law, and will know exactly how to powerfully present your case to the Judge catered to your case.

Call us now on (02) 8606 2218 to book a free first consultation with an experienced Fraud Defence Lawyer.