Criminal Justice 1010

Criminal Justice 1010

Salt Lake Community College
2014
Professor: Chris Bertram :-)

From Arrested, to Sentencing, the entire processes
Taber T. Fellows
7/24/2014

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The Crime, the Booking, The initial appearance,
The Grand jury, The Preliminary-hearing, The I ndictment, The information,
The Argument, the Plea bargain, The Guilty plea, and or The Trial,
The Sentencing commenced, the suspect / criminal / defendant / intimate
And his or hers, given complete sentencing awarded by the judge.

After arrests at the police station the suspect is searched photographed and fingerprinted
and allowed one phone call after the booking charges are reviewed and if they are not dropped a
complaint is filed and a judge or magistrate examines the case for probable causes.
Intentional appearance, the suspect appears before the judge who uniforms the suspect of
the charges and of his or her rights. If the suspect requests a lawyer, one is appointed. The judge
set bail (conditions under which a suspect can obtain release pending disposition of the case).
Grand J ury:
A grand jury determines if there is a possible cause to believe that the defendant
committed the crime. The federal government and about one third of the states require grand jury
indictments and to for at least some felons.
I ndictment: An indictment is that charging instrument issued by the grand jury.
Preliminary Hearing:
A preliminary hearing is a court proceeding in which the prosecutor presents evidence
and the judge determines whether there is probable cause to hold the defendant over for trial.
I nformation:
Information is the charging instrument issued by the prosecutor.
Argument:
The suspect is brought before the trial court, informed of the charges, and asked to enter a plea.
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Guilty plea:
In most jurisdictions, the majority of cases that reach the argument stage, do not go to
trial but are resolved by a guilty plea, often as the result of a plea bargain. The judge sets the case
for sentencing.
Trial:
If the defendant refuses to plead guilty, he or she proceeds to either a jury trial (in most
instances) or a bench trail. Defendants may be a pointed or private counsel may be hired by the
state to represent the defendant as the US Constitution does not specify how soon a defendant
must be brought before a magistrate after arrest, it has been left to the jury to show branch to
determine the timing of the initial appearance the Supreme Court has held that the initial
appearance must occur promptly, which in most cases means within 48 hours of booking in
misdemeanor cases a defendant may decide to plead guilty and be sentenced during the initial
appearance.
Otherwise, the magistrate will usually release those charged with misdemeanors on their
promise to return at a later date for further proceedings. For felony cases, however, the defendant
is not permitted to make a plea at the initial appearance because a magistrates court does not
have jurisdiction to decide felonies. Furthermore, in most cases the defendant will be released
only if she or he posts Bail-and amount paid by the defendant to the court and retained by the
court until the defendant returns for further proceedings.
Defendants who cannot afford bail are generally kept in a local jail or lock up until the
date of their trial, though many jurisdictions are searching for alternatives to this practice
because of overcrowded incarceration facilities. Government statisticians estimate that 62% of
felony defendants are released before their trials.
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The purpose of Bail:
Bail is provided for under the eighth amendment. The Amendment does not, however,
guarantee a right to bail. Instead, it states that excessive bail shall not be required. This has
come to mean that in all cases except those involving a capital crime (where bail is prohibited),
the amount of bail is required and must be reasonable compared with the seriousness of the
wrongdoing. It does not mean that the amount of bail must be within the defendants ability to
pay.
The vagueness of the Eighth Amendment has encouraged a second purpose of bail: to
protect the community by preventing the defendant from committing another crime before trial.
To achieve this purpose, a judge can set the bail at a level the suspect cannot possibly afford.
As we shall see several states and the federal government have passed laws that allowed judges
to detain suspects deemed a threat to the community without going through the motions of
setting relatively high bail.
Gaining pretrial release:
Earlier, we mentioned that many jurisdictions are looking for alternatives to the bail
system. One of the most popular options is released on recognizance (ROR). This is used when
the judge, based on the evidence of trained personnel, decides that the defendant is not at risk to
jump bail and does not pose a threat to the community. The defendant is then released at no
cost with the understanding that he or she will return at the time of the trial. The very Institute, a
nonprofit organization in the New York City, introduced the concept of all our old as part of the
Manhattan deal project in 1960s and such programs are now found in nearly every jurisdiction.
When properly administered, ROR all our programs seem to be successful, with less than 5% of
the participants failing to show for trial.
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Okay so weve posted bail and these defendants may post or page the full amount of bail
in cash to the court. A bail bond agent can assist in paying or posted a bail bond on the
defendants behalf, the full amount of the bail, the money will be returned when the suspect
appears for trial, if the defendant fails returning to further proceedings the defendant then will
have a warrant for his or her arrest for jumping bail. Usually the defendant gives the agent a
certain percentage of the bail, most commonly amount is 10% in cash.
Next phase is establishing probable cause:
Once the initial appearance has been completed and bail has been set, the prosecutor must
establish probable cause. In other words, the prosecutor must show that a crime was committed
and link defendant to that crime. There are two formal procedures for establishing probable
cause at this stage of the pretrial process: preliminary hearings and grand jurors.
The preliminary hearing:
During the preliminary hearing the defendant appears before the judge or magistrate who besides
whether the evidence presented is sufficient for the case to proceed to trial. Normally, every
person arrested has a right to this hearing within a reasonable amount of time after his or her
initial arrest -usually, no later than 10 days if the defendant is in custody or within 30 days if he
or she has gained pretrial release. The preliminary hearing process is conducted in a manner of a
mini-trial. Typically, a police report of the arrest is presented by the law enforcement officer,
supplemented with evidence provided by the prosecutor. Because the burden of proving
probable cause is relatively light (compared with proving guilt be on a reasonable doubt),
prosecutors rarely call witnesses during the preliminary hearing, saving them for the trial. During
this hearing, the defendant has the right to be represented by counsel, who may cross examine
witnesses and challenge any evidence offered by the prosecutor.
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In most states, defense attorneys can take advantage of the preliminary hearing to begin
the process of discovery, in which they are entitled to have access to in and all evidence in the
possessions of the prosecution related to the case. Discovery is considered a Keystone in the
adversary process, as it allows the defense to see the evidence against the defendant prior to
making a plea.
Waiving the hearing the preliminary hearing often seems ratherperfunctory, although in
some jurisdictions it replaces grand jury proceedings. It usually lasts no longer than five minutes,
and the judge or magistrate rarely finds that probable cause does not exist. For this reason,
defense attorneys commonly advise their clients to waive their rights to a preliminary hearing.
Once a judge has ruled a fermentative leave, in many jurisdictions the defendant is bound over to
the grandeur, a group of citizens called to decide whether probable cause exists. In other
jurisdictions, the prosecutor issues and information, which replaces the police complaint as the
formal charge against the defendant for the purpose of a trial?
The grandeur the federal government and about one third of the states require a grand
jury to make the decisions as to whether a case should go to trial. Grand jurors are impaneled, or
created, for a period of time usually not exceeding three months. During that time, the grand jury
sits in closed (secret) sessions and heres only evidence presented by the prosecutor-the
defendant cannot present evidence at this hearing. The prosecutor presents to the grand jury
whatever evidence the state has against the defendant, including photographs, documents,
tangible objects, the testimony of witnesses, and other items. If the grand jury finds that probable
cause exists, it issues an indictment (pronounced in-dyte-ment) against the defendant.
Like and information in a preliminary hearing, the indictment becomes the formal charge
against the defendant.
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Going to trial:
The pretrial process does not inexorably lead to a guilty plea, just as prosecutors, defense
attorneys, and defendants have reasons to negotiate. They may also be motivated to take a case to
trial. If either side is confident in the strength of its arguments and evidence, it will obviously be
less likely to accept a plea bargain. Prosecutors and defense attorneys may favor a trial to gain
publicity, and sometimes public pressure after an extremely violent or high profile crime will
force a chief prosecutor (who is, remember, normally and elected official) to take a weak case to
trial. Also, some defendants may insist on their right to a trial, regardless of their attorneys
advice. After all sides have presented their case the jury is then asked to deliberate then state
their findings to the judge or magistrates, the defendant is then formally charged of guilty or not,
by the judge or magistrate, and sentencing placed.
The sentencing is then expected to be held by the defendant, if given 0 to 5 in the state
penitentiary, then that is what the accused defendant is to serve 0 to 5 years. After the first year
has passed the defendant, now inmate will have the ability to go in front of a Board of pardons
and ask for a shortened time in incarceration, the board of pardons with then here the defendants
plea and make a decision accordingly, meaning has the inmate been rehabilitated, has the inmate
been a good inmate to other inmates and the prison officials and himself, all of these are
evaluated by the board members, and a final decision is then made will the defendant/inmate
remain incarcerated or do we feel he/she has been reformed well enough to return to society.
In most cases if the defendant/inmate is released back to public, he or she would be
released to a probation or parole officer, the defendant/inmate must follow and adhere to all
probation/parole expectations. Once the inmate completes this phase here she will be known as
off paper and becomes a free citizen once again, unless he or she commits another crime.
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The crime is committed, the officers investigate, Miranda rights are given (or read), and
the arrest is made. Police officers fill-out their report, their reports are turned over to the state
prosecutors, State prosecutors make a case and take it to the courts, they present their case to a
judge, the judge either accepts the case or not, and the judge either sets a bail or not. The initial
appearance is set, suspect sees judge for first time, and this is known as a pretrial or preliminary
trial where the accused is given the opportunity have a grand jury trial or a preliminary hearing
then the indictment, and information, is given the prosecutors and defense attorneys then the
arguments is set for a plea of some kind a plea bargain or a plea of being guilty or an innocent
plea, or a no contest plea. The trial date is set for the trial and the trial is held. Prosecuting and
defense attorneys present their case, both sides give final arguments, the judge orders the jury to
deliberate, under his orders. The jury returns and hands the decision over to the bailiff the bailiff
hands the readings or findings to the judge, the judge reads the jurys decision out loud in the
courtroom in front of everybody. Then the judge orders the sentencing, and the
inmate/defendant/suspect/accused, is ordered to follow with the judges sentencing.

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Work cited

Criminal justice 1010 Salt Lake Community College
Gengage Learning
Criminal Justice in action seventh edition Larry K Gaines / Roger Leroy Miller
2013 Cengage Learning, All rights reserved
This book contains selected works from existing Cengage learning resources and was produced
by the Cengage learning custom solutions for college use. As such, those adopting and/or
contributing to this work are responsible for editorial content accuracy, continued key and
completeness.
Compilation 2013 Cengage Learning
ISBN-13: 978-1285-916798-8
ISBN-10: 1-285-981679-4
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