Chapter 13: The Courtroom: Pretrial and Trial Process Flashcards
Two procedures that determine whether or not a proceeding goes to trial.
Preliminary Hearing (Information):
- Prosecutor files an information, (Prosecutor’s sworn statement) formally charging the defendant w/ a crime, that is reviewed by a judge during preliminary hearing.
Indictment:
- Prosecutor files a complaint document, charging an individual with an offense, & describing the parts of the offense being charged, and a grand jury decides whether or not to indict a defendant.
Pre Trial Motions: #1 Double Jeopardy
Can’t be tried twice for the same offense (in the same court jurisdiction).
Pre Trial Motions: #2 Speedy Trial
- Speedy trial will not be given to if you don’t ask for it.
- Right to trial without undue / unnecessary delay.
Pre Trial Motions: #3 Improper Venue
- Too much publicity (often made assertion by P or D).
- Changing the location of the trial to have a more fair trial.
Pre Trial Motions: #4 Discovery of Exonerating Evidence in Possession of the Prosecution
- aka, Reciprocal Discovery
- request by defense attorney for prosecution to turn over all evidence they intend to use at trial (adversarial evidence and nonadversarial).
Pre Trial Motions: #5 Motion to Suppress
- filed by defense attorney to request that unlawfully obtained evidence / fruit of the poisonous tree be inadmissible at trial.
Preliminary Hearing
Determines whether defendant should be “bound over” to trial or “bound over” to grand jury.
Preliminary hearings should happen within _____ days of arrest, and their purpose is to determine whether there is _______________ evidence to subject the defendant to a _______________ prosecution.
This hearing is different from the _________ ___________ detention hearing in Chapter 12, where the government has to prove that there is probable cause for a prolonged ____________ of the arrestee.
10; sufficient; criminal
probable cause; detention
Preliminary hearings act as “_______-________” in which the defendant is granted the right to a _____________.
During this hearing, the prosecution presents _____________, in support of the defendant’s guilt of the crime. The defendant’s _____________ may ____________ ______________ the prosecution’s witnesses, and present _____________ to expose the “fatal _______________” of the prosecution’s argument.
The judge is then left to make the decision as to whether or not there is ______________ evidence to subject the defendant to ____________ or whether to ____________ him.
mini-trial; lawyer
evidence; lawyer; cross examine; witnesses; weaknesses
sufficient; trial; release
The judge’s responsibility during the preliminary hearing is to answer 1) whether or not a crime _______ committed, and 2) whether or not the ____________ committed it.
What are the two standards used in deciding whether or not to “bind over” the defendant to a trial:
was; defendant
- Probable Cause Approach
- Prima Facie Approach
Probable Cause Approach
There has to be a “reasonable probability” (has to be probable cause to believe) that the prosecution will be successful in convicting the defendant.
Prima Facie Approach
The judge has to determine, if it’s also believed by the jury, that the evidence is sufficient to convict the defendant.
Preliminary hearing is not _____________ in every state. States are divided according to whether they are _____________ states, ______________ states, or ____________ ___________ states.
required; indictment; information; modified indictment
Indictment States
(18 States)
Following the preliminary hearing, the prosecutor brings the felony charges before a grand jury for indictment.
Prosecutors may bypass the preliminary hearing, and take the felony charges directly before a grand jury.
Information States
(28 States)
Prosecutors may bring felony charges based the sworn statement in the information, and may bring these charges before a preliminary hearing or a grand jury.
Modified Information States
(4 States)
Felony charges for capital offenses which bear the punishment of life imprisonment and the death penalty require indictments before a grand jury.
The Grand Jury’s primary function is to protect defendants from ______________ prosecutor’s, who may charge defendants with more ______________ crimes than what they actually committed. They are meant to stand between the _____________ and the _____________, and ensure that charges are based on _____________, not _____________, or personal ____-______.
overzealous; serious; accuser; accused; reason; malice; ill-will
Federal Rules of Criminal procedure require _____________ for ____________ offenses punishable by ____________ or ______________ for more than __ year.
indictments; federal; death; imprisonment; 1
In Hurtado v. California, (1884), a criminal court in California convicted Petitioner Hurtado of murder, based on _________ charges brought in a _____________ _____________ but not before a ___________ ___________ indictment.
The dispositive question before the Court was if the state convicting someone for _____________ without a ___________ __________ indictment violated the Due Process Clause of the ____th Amendment.
The Court ruled NO, and upheld Hurtado’s _______________. The court reasoned that it’s focus was on maintaining “_____________ ______________,” a principle which they thought could be reasonably accomplished in the states by either having the felony charges brought before a _____________ ______________ or a ___________ ____________.
felony; preliminary hearing; grand jury
murder; grand jury; 14th
conviction; fundamental fairness; preliminary hearing; grand jury
Tenants for Being a juror serving on a grand jury:
- Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provide that grand juries are to be made up of ______ - _____ persons, although that number differs from __________ to __________.
- The ruling MUST be a ____________ vote in cases involving indictments by the ___________ __________.
- Juror must be at least ______ yrs old.
- Juror must be (selected) from the ____________ jurisdiction.
- Juror should be able to read, speak, write, and understand _____________.
- Juror should also exhibit ___________, good _____________, and ____________.
16; 23; state; state
majority; grand jury
18
relevant
English
intelligence; character; honesty
Purging the Grand Jury
Process of selecting certain members from the pool of people called to serve jury duty.
Petit jury
Jury at trial
(people actually chosen from the pool).
Must represent a cross section of the community.
Key-Man System
Grand jury is selected from influential members of the community
Individuals may not be excluded from service on grand jury based on __________, ___________, or ___________ __________.
Defendants may challenge the ______________ of the grand jury if people were unfairly __________ from serving. A successful ______________ results in _____________ of the indictment.
Now, if a trial judge were to improperly conduct the indictment, having not dismissed it due to unfair ____________, then the appellate court judge will enter an automatic _____________ of the trial court conviction if he determines individuals were unlawfully ___________ from sitting on the grand jury.
This Automatic Reversal Rule exists because the Court can’t reasonably assume that a grand jury where individuals were _______ unlawfully _______________ would reach the same verdict/conclusion as the jury that was ______________ unlawfully.
race; religion; national origin
composition; excluded; challenge; dismissal
composition; reversal; excluded
NOT; excluded; composed