Yesterday, Google released it’s legal research arm of Google Scholar to the public. This allows everyday people to aid in their criminal defense by researching case precedent; the key factor which instructs attorneys and courts on legal issues.

Courts decide criminal law issues by examining your case and comparing it to rulings in earlier cases with similar facts. These authoritative—or precedential—cases are what form our legal system.

For example: The police violate your constitution rights by searching your car after they place you in handcuffs. As a criminal defense attorney, I (and the courts) know this because in Arizona v. Gant, the United States Supreme Court said that police violated Mr. Gant’s rights when they searched his car after he was in handcuffs; that decision suppressed cocaine and a gun from being entered into evidence. Invaluable information for criminal defense attorneys and their clients alike.

Now that Google has released this tool to the public, everyone will have basic access to what defense attorneys pay hundreds of dollars per month for; Court decisions in an electronic, searchable format. Importantly, you can specify which jurisdictions you’d like to search, such as Utah cases only.

Remember, Google Scholar is a beta product and isn’t perfect. Already lawyers around the web are discussing how Scholar has glitches. Still, if you have any interest in researching your criminal law issues, as of now, this is the place to start.