Trial Stages

Question 1

What is a grand jury indictment?

Answer 1

The indictment is a written accusation stating charges against the defendant issued by a grand jury after it reviews the prosecution’s evidence

Question 2

What is a grand jury?

Answer 2

An investigatory tool used in an adversarial hearing

More Info: Grand Jury

Question 3

Do Miranda warnings need to be given for grand jury proceeding?

Answer 3

No, because a defendant is not in custody.

Question 4

What is the purpose of bail?

Answer 4

To secure the presence of the accused at trial

Question 5

What is the constitutional right to bail?

Answer 5

There is none

Question 6

When bail is appropriate, it should not be what?

Answer 6

Excessive

Question 7

What are the elements of a valid guilty plea?

Answer 7

Defendant’s plea must be:

1. Voluntary

And

2. Defendant must understand what he is pleading guilty to

Question 8

Which Amendment guarantees the right to a speedy trial?

Answer 8

The 6th Amendment

Question 9

What is only remedy for violation of the right to speedy trial?

Answer 9

Dismissal with prejudice

More Info: Right to Speedy Trial Remedy

Question 10

When does the requirement of a speedy trial begin?

Answer 10

1. Defendant is accused by formal charging

Or

2. Defendant arrested and held to answer for the crime

Question 11

It violates due process for the prosecution to fail to disclose what type of evidence?

Answer 11

Evidence that is:

1. Favorable

And

2. Material

Question 12

What is the trigger to disclose favorable evidence?

Answer 12

1. If defense makes a discovery request, then any evidence that would tend to help the defense is favorable
2. If defense fails to make a discovery request, then only evidence that is clearly exculpatory is favorable

Question 13

If the prosecution fails to disclose favorable evidence, when is a defendant entitled to a new trial?

Answer 13

When the evidence was also material, meaning the evidence would have created a reasonable probability of a different outcome.

Question 14

When does the destruction of government held evidence violate due process?

Answer 14

When it is destroyed in bad faith

Question 15

Absent waiver, a defendant may not be imprisoned for any offense unless what occurs?

Answer 15

They are given the right to effective counsel

Question 16

What must a defendant seeking a new trial based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel prove?

Answer 16

1. Counsel was ineffective: performance fell below the minimum standards of lawyerly conduct

And

2. Had the lawyer been effective, it would have created a reasonable probability that the outcome would have been different.

Question 17

The right to a jury trial attaches in any criminal proceeding where the defendant faces a potential sentence of what length?

Answer 17

Greater than 6 months

Question 18

What does the right to a jury selected from a fair cross-section of the community entail?

Answer 18

A jury pool consisting of a fair cross-section of the ethnic and gender demographics of the community

Question 19

What does the use of peremptory challenges to exclude prospective jurors based on minority race or gender violate?

Answer 19

The equal protection clause

Question 20

What may a party making a peremptory challenge of a prospective minority juror be required to establish?

Answer 20

A race or gender neutral basis for the challenge and if that basis is unpersuasive: the challenge will be denied.

Question 21

What is the confrontation clause?

Answer 21

The 6th Amendment right for a defendant to confront witnesses presenting evidence against him.

More Info: Confrontation Clause

Question 22

The right to confrontation is triggered only by what type of evidence?

Answer 22

Testimonial evidence

Question 23

What type of evidence is a witness telling the police or a 911 operator what is happening in order to help them respond to an ongoing emergency? Is it testimonial?

Answer 23

The evidence is not testimonial evidence and there is no right to confrontation.

Question 24

Confrontation is satisfied by subjecting the witness to adversarial testing, which means the witnesses testimony is provided how?

Answer 24

1. Under oath

And

2. Subject to cross-examination
   * More Info:* Witness Testimony

Question 25

A witness’s’ prior testimonial statements offered as hearsay will violate the right to confrontation unless what has occured?

Answer 25

The defendant had a prior opportunity to subject the hearsay to adversarial testing, for example at a prior preliminary hearing.

Question 26

What are the elements of double jeopardy?

Answer 26

A defendant has been charged:

1. Twice
2. For the same offense
3. By the same sovereign
   * More Info:* Double Jeopardy

Question 27

In a non-jury trial, when does jeopardy attach?

Answer 27

The first witness is sworn and the court begins to hear evidence

Question 28

In a jury trial, when does jeopardy attach?

Answer 28

When the jury is sworn in

Question 29

What is the same offense for double jeopardy?

Answer 29

Two crimes occurring out of the same transaction are considered the same offense, unless:

1. Each charge requires proof of separate criminal impulses

Or

2. Each charge requires proof of separate factual elements

Question 30

What is the separate sovereignties doctrine?

Answer 30

The double jeopardy prohibition does not prevent dual prosecution by separate sovereigns. A defendant may be prosecuted for the same criminal conduct by a Federal court and a state court.