Importance of Pretrial Procedures

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Importance of Pretrial Procedures
Pretrial procedures are important components of
the justice process because the great majority of
all criminal cases are resolved informally at
this stage and never come before the courts.
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Pretrial Processes

• Arrest
• Booking
• Initial Appearance
• Grand Jury / Preliminary hearing
• - indictment
• - information
• Arraignment
• Pretrial Motions

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Bail and Pretrial Release

• Definition
• Reality of Bail System
• Bail Bondsperson

• Setting Bail
• Reforming Bail
• Issues

Preventive Detention
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Bail and Equity Issues
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Preventive Detention
Holding a defendant for trial based on a judges
finding that, if the defendant were released on
bail, he or she would endanger the safety of any
other person and/or the community or would flee
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Preventative DetentionThe Controversy
FOR AGAINST

• Based on the notion that certain offenders will
  commit crime while on release
• Society has the right to be protected from future
  criminal acts

• It is a form of punishment which is not based on
  a guilty verdict and is based on something that
  MIGHT happen

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United States v. Salerno (1987)

• The Supreme Court held that the preventive
  detention act had a legitimate and compelling
  regulatory purpose and did not violate the due
  process clause.
• Preventative detention was not designed as a
  punishment, but to prevent danger to the
  community which is a legitimate societal goal.

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Plea Bargaining and Trials
Pleas Trials

• Case disposition
• Relationships involved
• Legal issues
• Pros and Cons
• Reform

• Case disposition
• Juries
• Trial process
• Evaluating the jury system
• Appeals

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Plea Bargaining
90 of all convictions
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Plea Bargaining

• Defined a defendants agreement to plead guilty
  with the reasonable expectation of receiving some
  consideration from the state for doing so
• Blackledge v. Allison (1976) Supreme Court
  acknowledges mutual advantage

Trial or Plea which is best bet for a given
defendant?
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Relationships in Plea Bargaining

• Players involved
• Incentives involved
• Tactics
• Remember Going Rate
• Implicit vs. Explicit Plea Bargaining
• Slow Plea more likely as time goes on

Strength of each sides case bluff or real deal?
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Legal Issues in Plea Bargaining

• Voluntary Boykin v. Alabama (1969)
• Prosecutors Santobello v. New York (1971)
• Defendants Ricketts v. Adamson (1987)
• Threats - Bordenkircher v. Hayes (1978)

Supreme Court on Plea Bargains
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Pros and Cons of Plea Bargaining
Pro Con

• Improves efficiency
• Reduces costs
• Allows concentration on serious cases
• Avoids pretrial detention and delays
• Individualized justice

• Encourages defendants to waive constitutional
  rights
• Results in lesser sentences and sentencing
  disparity
• May coerce innocent to plead guilty
• Low visibility
• Breeds disrespect for the law a game show

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Length of Sentence Pleas vs. Trials
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Reforming Plea Bargaining

• Make it more
• visible
• understandable
• fair
• Create specific guidelines.
• Require judicial supervision over the process.
• Place limits on the process.
• Alaska ban 1975 no great effects
• California 1982 moves to preliminary stage

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TRIALS
Only 5 of all cases are heard by a jury trial.
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VITAL FUNCTIONS OF THE JURY

• Prevent government oppression
• Determine guilt (facts)
• Represent community
• Serve as buffer
• Educate citizens
• Symbolize rule of law

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In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by
an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed...to
be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation to be confronted with the witnesses
against him to have compulsory process for
obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have
the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
Sixth Amendment
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The Right to Confront Witnesses

• Provides for a control over hearsay evidence and
  allows the veracity of witnesses to be challenged
• Helps the accused in preparation of a defense to
  know who will present testimony for the state
• Does not necessarily mean a face-to-face
  confrontation

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Right to a Jury Trial

• This right is guaranteed for all serious crime -
  not all crime
• Constitution does not require a 12 person jury,
  smaller juries may be permitted
• The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments do not
  mandate a unanimous verdict in all cases

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The Right to Counsel at Criminal Trials
1868 1963
1972
1791 1932
1967
Bill of Rights 6th Amendment
Powell v. Alabama
In Re Gault
Fourteenth Amendment
Gideon v. Wainwright
Argersinger v. Hamlin
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Right to a Speedy Trial
Purposes for this guarantee include

• Improve the credibility of the trial
• Reduce defendant anxiety
• Avoid pretrial publicity
• Avoid adverse effects on the ability to present a
  defense

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Time Limits for Speedy Trials

• Constitution does not specify a time limit
• Most states have adopted statutes which define
  reasonable limits
• Federal Speedy Trial Act of 1974
• provides time limits for various stages of the
  adjudication process
• provision for fining defense counsels causing
  delays

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Jury Selection Process
Jury pool of 200 to 1,000 citizens drawn each
month from source list
Return to jury pool
Panel 30
Guilty plea or dismissed
Voir Dire
Selected for jury 14
Challenged or not used 16
Guilty plea or dismissed
Jury 14
Trial
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Jury pool of 200 to 1,000 citizens drawn each
month from source list
Jury Selection Process
Most jurisdictions use a number of sources for
the names of potential jurors. The lists are
sorted and duplicates are discarded. The jury
pool is then selected on a random basis. The
term that jury pools serve vary from jurisdiction
to jurisdiction.
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Jury pool of 200 to 1,000 citizens drawn each
month from source list
Jury Selection Process
A panel of potential jurors is randomly selected
for each jury trial. The size of the panel may be
increased depending on the possible difficulty of
selecting a qualified jury.
Panel 30
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The voir dire is a process of selecting
potential jurors. Both prosecution and
defense may object to jurors
and challenge them
peremptorily or for cause.
Panel 30
Voir Dire
Selected for jury 14
Challenged or not used 16
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Challenge for Cause

• Purpose is to determine if someone is unfit to
  serve.
• Prosecution and defense want someone who is
  sympathetic to their side of the case.
• Judge and both sides ask questions.
• Number of these challenges is unlimited.

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Peremptory Challenges

• Enable attorneys to excuse jurors for no
  particular reason or for undisclosed reasons.
• Number of challenges are limited.
• Cant be used to eliminate jurors on the basis of
  race, ethnicity or gender.

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Jury Selection Process
Jury pool of 200 to 1,000 citizens drawn each
month from source list
Jurors that are not selected are returned to the
pool for possible use on another jury.
Panel 30
Voir Dire
Selected for jury 14
Challenged or not used 16
Jury 14
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Steps in a Jury Trial
Voir Dire
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Steps in a Jury Trial
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Steps in a Jury Trial
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Steps in a Jury Trial
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Criminal Evidence

• Testimonial evidence from witnesses
• Real or physical evidence
• Circumstantial or indirect evidence

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Criteria of Admissibility of Evidence

• Relevancy
• Probativeness
• Nonprejudicial
• Reliability
• Legally obtained

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Instructions to the Jury

• Judges responsibility
• Provides jury with information about the law
• elements of the crime
• evidence required for proof
• burden of proof required
• Improper instructionsare often the basis foran
  appeal

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The Verdict

• Guilty
• judge will normally set a date for sentencing and
  ask for a presentence investigation report
• Not guilty
• defendant is free to leave
• Hung jury
• case may be retried

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Proof Beyond a Reasonable DoubtWhat Does it
Mean?

• A doubt of 7 1/2 on a scale of 10.
• A doubt based on reason and common sense.
• Not frivolous or fanciful doubt.
• Substantial doubt.
• Persuasion to a moral certainty.
• A doubt that would cause prudent persons to
  hesitate before acting in a matter of importance
  to themselves.

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Sentencing

• Normally after review of a Presentence
  Investigation Report in felony cases
• Rules applying to discretionary decisions by
  judges regarding the kind and severity of
  sentence vary among jurisdictions
• One of the most important and visible decisions
  by the judge

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Judges v. Juries
Judges and juries do not always evaluate evidence
in the same way. Juries often look at the nature
of the victim, the act (e.g. self defense) and
whether the defendant took the stand.
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Appeals

• Most are unsuccessful.
• They are based on some legal contention.Issues
  tend to deal with the introduction
  andsufficiency of evidence and jury
  instructions.
• Homicides and other serious crimes against
  persons account for more than 50 of all appeals.
• Most appeals arise from cases in which the
  sentence is five years or less.