What legal defenses are typically used in criminal defense cases?

In Alaska, the most common legal defenses used by criminal defense lawyers include insanity, self-defense, duress, intoxication or involuntary intoxication, entrapment, and ignorance or mistake of fact. Insanity is a legal defense used by defendants to claim they did not understand or could not control their actions. To be considered legally insane, a person must be unable to understand the consequences of their actions or unable to distinguish between right and wrong. Self-defense is a claim by a defendant that the actions taken were necessary to prevent death or serious injury. It does not apply when the defendant is the initial aggressor or when the defendant uses excessive force in response to the threat. Duress is a defense claiming that the defendant was under threat of immediate harm and that they had no reasonable way out. The threat must be of such a severity that a reasonable person would commit a crime to avoid it. Intoxication or involuntary intoxication is a defense used when the defendant was under the influence of drugs or alcohol and did not realize the consequences of their actions. Entrapment occurs when law enforcement officers persuade someone to commit a criminal act that they would otherwise have not committed. Ignorance or mistake of fact is a defense used to prove that a person did not knowingly commit a crime. Under this defense, a defendant must prove that he or she was not aware of the criminal nature of the act.

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What legal defenses are typically used in criminal defense cases?

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