To understand how a criminal process works in any federal system, you have to understand first that every state has its own court system with varied rules of handling the criminal cases. The Legal Aid criminal lawyers of Adelaide will help you understand how to process the trial. There are different stages in criminal prosecution which starts with arrest and ends with trial. You need to get in touch with an expert firm who provides 24 hours lawyer Adelaide.
Stages of a criminal case
Most of the criminal cases end when the criminal defendant accepts a plea bargain, that is, where the defendant chooses to plead guilty before the law. This helps in having reduced charge or lesser sentence instead of when he is proved guilty.
Arrest
After a police officer arrests a person if he observes him committing a crime, the suspected criminal is booked under a certain section of the law. The booking process is completed by the police and the suspect is placed in custody. If it is a minor offence, there are provisions to issue a citation to the suspect with instruction where he has to appear in front of the court at a later date.
Bail
When the suspect is granted bail, they have to pay a certain amount in exchange for the release. However, the suspect needs to promise to appear in all the scheduled court proceedings. Sometimes, the bail can be granted immediately or there can be a later bail after hearing. Sometimes a suspect can be released on own recognizance where he has to promise to appear in front of all the further court appeals.
Arraignment
When the suspect appears for arraignment, the judge will read all the charges against the defendant and he can choose to plead guilty or not guilty or no contest to the following charges. Then the judge will review the defendant’s bail and set for the dates of proceedings depending upon the hearing.
Preliminary hearing
The government brings in a bill of information by a preliminary hearing where the cases must be brought by indictment. The state can use the grand jury for the preliminary hearings to establish the existence of any probable cause but if there is no proper finding of the cause, the defendant will not be required to go through the trial. The Grand jury will hear about the case only from a prosecutor while a preliminary hearing will include a counsel of questions where both the parties including the witness can make the arguments.
Pee trial motion
This is brought by the defence and the prosecution to resolve the final issue and speak on the evidence and the testimony that will be shown in the trial.
Trial
Here the judge will make decisions of the defendant to be guilty or not guilty. The prosecution will have to bring the proof to the criminal trial and must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant has committed the charges. The defendant have constitutional rights in most of the criminal matters to contest the charges against him. The judge will make the final determination of guilt or innocence depending upon the examination, witnesses and other jury instructions.
Sentencing
The court will determine the necessary punishment for the convicted defendant and a suitable sentence will be considered based on number of factors such as the severity of the crime, criminal history, personal circumstances and the degree of remorse.
Appealing
Individual can appeal to review his case to a higher Court if he feels that there is an error in the case of the sentence imposed. In that case, the case will be further retried.