A technical defense is one used by a

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisd ...

to seek acquittal based on the technicalities of the law. It is in contrast to a

political defense A political defense is a defense to a criminal charge in which the defendant asserts at trial the political motivations behind the allegedly criminal conduct. In some circumstances, the defendant might assert political motivations in order to seek ...

which seeks to use political arguments to persuade a

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England d ...

to nullify. Sometimes the desire to convince a jury on political and moral grounds is so strong that political defendants will reject a potent technical defense.

References

Legal defenses {{law-term-stub