About Brent Horst

Brent has experienced firsthand, having worked for the government as a prosecutor, how the system can make mistakes because of false allegations or overzealous prosecutors and police officers. While he believes that most prosecutors and police officers are honest people doing a tough job, he knows from personal observation as a former prosecutor that police and prosecutors often develop “tunnel vision” or confirmation bias,” where they form an initial impression about one person’s guilt, and the entire investigation is tunneled or focused on proving that person’s guilt while exculpatory information and other suspects are overlooked.

This is an especially troubling problem in child sexual assault cases, where the system which includes the investigators and social workers often has an automatic bias in favor of the child and would never consider that the child’s allegation could be false. It is Brent’s opinion that, in most of these cases, every question of the child or the suspect, and every investigative action taken by the authorities, is designed to confirm the child’s accusation and that the investigation is not an unbiased search for the truth. This happens not because those working in the system do not care about the truth, but because they have an automatic bias against the suspect.

The system is therefore usually quick to react, deciding that the suspect is guilty and kicking into full gear to prove that guilt and putting blinders on to all other possibilities, including the person’s innocence. When the full power and resources of the state come down on you, it is absolutely necessary to have an experienced, tough, effective criminal defense attorney on your side. Prior Results

It does therefore happen that innocent people are charged with criminal offenses. When it does, Brent is proud to be the one person who stands up to the police and the prosecutors on behalf of these individuals.