Pretrial Hearing Case Study

The court can either choose to do a preliminary hearing or grand jury for John's first appearance.. In a preliminary hearing is conducted with no jury and the judge is the fact finder. A grand jury hearing is where the prosecution presents the case to a group of citizens outside the presence of the defendant and they (the grand jurors) are asked to determine whether probable cause exists based on the evidence presented to them by the prosecution.

The United State Constitution and state constitutions, as well as criminal rules of procedure for state courts, provide that Bert can be held for only a limited time on the basis of an arrest and criminal complaint. In order for the court to continue holding a Bert in custody, the court must conduct the preliminary hearing within the amount of time prescribed by state law and issue a formal charging instrument, sometimes referred to as"criminal information." If the preliminary hearing is not conducted within the time prescribed Bert must be released. Then if Bert has been released on bail or "own recognizance" ("OR"), the court can conduct the preliminary hearing at a later time. However, the preliminary hearing must occur within a reasonable time after arrest. An unreasonable delay violates Bert's federal constitutional sixth amendment right to a speedy trial. If Bert is arrested or charged in a criminal complaint and the prosecutor's office or the court does not schedule the preliminary hearing until months or years later, the case can be dismissed because of the delay. The judge must review the circumstances of the delay and determine whether the delay was unreasonable and, therefore, violated Bert's constitutional right to speedy trial. Bert's preliminary hearing is somewhat like a mini trial. The prosecution

The next step in the system is initial appearance. Here they are given formal notice of the charges against them and advised of their rights.(Bohm & Haley, 2008, p. 13) The movie included this in their depiction of the criminal justice system. In the movie they called it the arraignment. The arraignment is where the defendant either pleads guilty or not guilty. During this stage the bail is also set which was also done in the movie. In the movie the set the preliminary hearing for the next morning in which the witnesses testified to what they saw and heard. This allows the judge to decide if there is probable cause to make and indictment. Based upon the information we have learned it seems that the arraignment should have happened after the preliminary hearing and that the

While, pretrial conference rules likely do not mandate that courts must allow opposing parties to see each others’ trial exhibits, the use of the work product doctrine in this case was likely incorrectly applied. The Kansas statutes provide for pretrial conferences, but do not provide much in the way of detail for what should occur in these conferences. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 60-216 (2014). The Supreme Court Rules go into further detail, providing that at the pretrial conference “parties inform the court and opposing parties of all exhibits parties intend to use at the trial” along with several other procedural steps. KS R DIST CT Rule 140. However, the rule does provide that the conferences “must be conducted substantially in conformity” with the listed procedural steps and so not every step must be completed to satisfy the rule. Id. District courts have broad discretionary powers under K.S.A. 60-216 and so district courts have the ability to guide the pretrial conference process as they see fit. Boyle v. Harries, 22 Kan. App. 2d 686, 690 (1996).

The United States Pretrial Services is a Federal Judicial System. This system provides more information about defendants in a small timely matter, to assist the court in making release and detention decisions. The Federal Bail Reform Act of 1966 was primarily focused in making this decision fairer and rational on the release of defendants on the least and restrictive conditions that would assure the defendants appearance at trial when required. The Bail Reform Act eliminates the courts reliance on money as the sole purposed of pretrial release. The release and detention must be base sole based in nonappearance or danger risk. Therefore, the United States Pretrial Services as intended by Congress, provides judicial officers with verified and

The preliminary hearing is then held which determines if the prosecution obtained enough evidence and has enough probable cause to hold a trial (Schmalleger, 2008). Discovery, which refers to the first time the defense is allowed to view the evidence against the accused occurs at this stage (Schmalleger, 2008). The next step is arraignment; this is the first time the defendant is seen by a judge with enough authority to hold a trial (Schmalleger, 2008). At arraignment, the indictment against the accused is read; the accused enters a plea of either guilty, not guilty or no contest (Schmalleger, 2008). The last step involving the court is adjudication, which plainly means a trial by jury (Schmalleger, 2008). The trial then proceeds until both sides have presented their case and the jury reaches a decision (Schmalleger, 2008). If the jury cannot reach a decision the judge can declare a mistrial and the case can be retried (Schmalleger, 2008). If the accused waives the right to a trial by jury, the court will hold a bench trial which is a trial conducted and decided upon by the judge (Schmalleger, 2008).

Prosecutors often prefer this procedure because grand juries keep the case in secret. When an information is filed by prosecutors, it is required that they convince a judge in preliminary hearing that the evidence obtained is liable and sufficient to guarantee a conviction. In contrast, this is not presented

Next, is the preliminary hearing where defendants are charged in a fashion that is less cumbersome and arguably more protective of the innocent. The hearing is held to determine whether there is probable cause to hold the defendant for trial. The primary purpose of this is to give the defendant an opportunity to challenge the legal basis for his or her detention. The defendant in the B.I.G. trial would have the chance challenge the basis of being held in detention.

A Pretrial Hearing is when the judge outlines the law to the attorneys regarding the case as a final attempt to achieve an out-of-court settlement. No attorney ever wants to go to court because the case that they took on now becomes very expensive and takes a long time for the case to reach a verdict. Most of these cases are you settled out of court. The defendants attempted to settle but the plaintiffs’ attorney wouldn’t settle with them because they wanted more money. Next, the jurors need to be selected. The jury selection started February 18, 1986 and ended on February 25,1986. In this case, the jurors were Harriet Clark, Jean Coulsey, Robert Fox, Linda Kaplan, Vincent O’Rourke, and William Vogel.

The first person I interviewed was Celeste Lashmett. Celeste was my high school track coach and had recently became a new parent in the last two years. AJ is two years and four months old right now. Celeste is currently living in Winchester Illinois with her husband Tim. Tim and Celeste have been married for the last five years. With AJ only being a little over two years old I would still consider them to be new parents. Tim works at Lincoln Land FS in Winchester and Celeste is the high school guidance counselor and also the high school track coach. The interview was done at the high school in Celeste’s office and Tim was not present.

But most states require them. It usually depends on how each county files a criminal charge. Each state has to determine what is required at these trials. If there is a case, the prosecutor then has to determine whether or not the case will be given to a grand jury or if it needs to go to a trial. During a Preliminary Trial, you have to actually show what the probable cause is for going to trial. A Probable Cause hearing is different as where those state the charges that apply to the arrest and the Preliminary is actually showing the probable cause and any evidence that you have supporting that probable cause. Sometimes you have cross-examination, but you have to have a subpoena to have them appear, and if that happens, the court is concerned it may result in a criminal

The First Appearance- this is the step where someone is brought before the judge and the defendant is informed of the charges that against him or her, rights advisement, right to have a lawyer or if they can’t afford one , then they have one chosen to represent them, and if possible have the right for bail. This pretrial activity takes place in a magistrate court. Probable cause determination is when a judicial officer will look and check police documents and make sure they obtained reasonable evidence that can be supported in the cause of the arrest. If probable cause is not presented in the court then the defendant is released. Probable cause determination is a key part in the first appearance.

A joint Huntley hearing was held before Justice Thomas Gilligan in 1989. A Huntley hearing determines if the defendant’s statement was made voluntarily to the police. The hearing should have known that the children did not their Miranda right. Without a warning, anything said during the questioning cannot be admissible as evidence at trial. However, the court conclude that the statements were properly and legally gained. There was no hard evidence to link these young men to the crime scene. It is unbelievable that because of these false confessions with no hard evidence linking any of the suspects to the crime scene, that they would be convicted to five to ten years for a crime they did not commit. Confessions that were essentially useless

Next is the preliminary hearing. This is where the judge hears the evidence and from the

Courtroom procedures begin before the day of the trial arrives. In a criminal case, the pre-trial proceedings vary based on the severity of the crime. With a simple misdemeanor case, which could only result in minor jail time or a fine, the pre-trial procedures are short and simple. Usually, the defendant is called to a pre-trial hearing where they are read the charges pressed against them and are asked to give either their plea of guilty and be given a sentencing date, not guilty and be given a trial date and bail amount, or to plead no contest (American Bar Association). However, in a felony case that could lead to a serious incarceration sentence, the procedure becomes more complex. There is a first hearing that is similar to that of a misdemeanor, except that a plea is not given. This is done at the second preliminary hearing to determine if there is actually enough evidence to charge the defendant with a crime. If there isn’t enough, the charges are dropped, but if there is, the case moves along in the process (American Bar Association).