Capital Defense
Guilt-phase investigation in death-penalty cases: the scene, the evidence, the State's witnesses and the ones nobody has found yet.
Licensed Private Investigators · Miami, Florida
Miami CapitalInvestigations
Illuminating the truth in the defense of life.
Defense investigation and mitigation for capital and serious felony cases. We work at the direction of counsel, and every finding is tied to its source.
What we do
Investigation for the defense
From the first review of discovery to the last witness on the stand, we give defense teams the facts they need, gathered carefully and documented so they can be used.
Mitigation
Life-history investigation: family, school, medical, military and institutional records, and the people who can speak to them.
Witness Location & Interviews
Finding witnesses, including the hard ones, and interviewing them carefully, with every statement documented for counsel.
Discovery & Media Review
Body-worn camera, surveillance video, 911 audio, interrogations and depositions, reviewed closely and turned into timelines and notes cited to the second or the line.
Records & Background
Court, public and institutional records, public-records requests and background research, gathered and organized for the defense.
Civil Matters
Investigation for attorneys in civil cases: witnesses, records and the facts behind a claim.
Capital cases
Two trials. One investigation.
A capital case is tried twice, once for guilt and once for life. We investigate for both from the first day.
- Discovery reviewed in full, not sampled
- Witnesses located and interviewed in South Florida and beyond
- Records gathered across a defendant's whole life
- Findings delivered to counsel as protected work product
The guilt phase
What happened, who saw it, and what the State's case leaves out. We test the evidence against the record.
The penalty phase
Who the client is, and the life that led here. Mitigation is built from records and witnesses, not assumptions.
Court-appointed or private
We work with private defense counsel and with court-appointed counsel, where investigation is authorized by court order.
How we work
At the direction of counsel
Defense investigation belongs to the defense. Our process keeps the work protected, organized and ready to use.
I
Engagement
We are retained by defense counsel or appointed by court order, and we work at counsel's direction from the start.
II
The record first
We begin with what already exists: discovery, video, audio, statements, depositions and transcripts.
III
In the field
We locate and interview witnesses, document scenes and gather the records the case needs.
IV
Back to counsel
Findings go to counsel, cited to the page and line or the timestamp, so they hold up when they matter.
Veritas in lumine
Under the lens
Move the light across the record. What a file leaves in the dark is where our work begins.
Discovery
The second the report skips.
Body-worn camera, dispatch and 911 audio laid side by side and timed to the second, so the gaps show.
Witnesses
The name on page 212 nobody called.
Every person in the file is located, and the ones who matter are interviewed and documented.
Scene
The line of sight that changes the story.
Measured, photographed and revisited at the hour, and in the light, the witness described.
Records
The thirty years before the arrest.
School, medical, military, child-welfare, employment and court records, requested, gathered and read in full.
Mitigation
The family history that explains a life.
Three generations, told by the people who lived it and backed by the paper that proves it.
The State’s case
The theory the evidence doesn’t carry.
Every claim in the file is tested against the record it cites. Where it fails, counsel knows first.
Move your pointer across the panel, or let the light sweep on its own
Discretion
What we learn goes to counsel, and only to counsel.
Precision
Every finding cites its source. Nothing is rounded off or assumed.
Persistence
We keep looking until the record is complete.
About
Osman “Ozz” Lopez
Managing Member
Ozz is a Florida Class “C” licensed private investigator whose work centers on capital and serious felony defense in South Florida. He supports defense teams in Miami-Dade and Broward with investigation, discovery review and mitigation.
Miami Capital Investigations was founded on a simple idea: in a case where a life is at stake, the defense deserves an investigation as thorough as the prosecution's.
Florida Class “C” License No. C 3600381
Contact
Discuss a case
Attorneys and defense teams: email us to set up a call.
ozz@miamicapitalinvestigations.comPlease do not send privileged or confidential case details by email until we have spoken.