CCJ2020 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDECHAPTER 10• List and explain the steps typically taken during pretrial activitieso First appearance: Given formal notice of the charges against them To be advised their rights To be given the opportunity to retain a lawyer or to have one appointed to represent them To be afforded the opportunity for bail Must be held “w/o unnecessary delay, based on McNabb v. U.S.• Based on McNabb v. U.S., 48 hours following arrest became the standard maximum time by which first appearance should be held.o Preliminary Hearing: determine whether there is probable cause to hold the defendant States that do not use grand juries use this mechanism Give the defendant an opportunity to challenge the legal basis of his detention Lower court judge summarize the charges and review the rights of the criminal defendanto The filing of information by the prosecutor or the return of an indictment by the grand juryo Arraignment: Two purposes:• Inform the suspect of specific charges• the defendant may enter a plea of guilty, not guilt, and nolo contendereo Nolo contendere: a civil liability (added level of protection) defendant not 100% guiltyo Most likely to get released: theft/assault offenses; rape at state level 3 main factors:• Background history• Live in the jurisdiction in which arrested• Employed (tied to community/ least likely to come back) Difference in release rate in state and federal levels of murder: a capital offenseo Pretrial release Bail: ensure reappearance of the accused in court and prevents unconvicted person from suffering imprisonment unnecessarily• Alternatives to Bailo as a police officer to reduce taking someone to jail you can use a signature bond; noncustodial arrest (notice to appear) if you have a failure to appear will not get a signature bondo Release on recognizance (ROR): the pretrial release of a criminal defendant on his or her written promise to appear in court as required. No cash or property bond required.o Property bond: the setting of bail in the form of land, houses, stocks, or other tangible property. If the defendant does not show up the property becomes property of the courtso Conditional release: released by executive decision of a prisoner from a federal or state correctional facility who has not served his or her full sentence and whose freedom is contingent on obeying specified rules of behavior. Plea Bargaining: with the plea bargain you are stating that you are guilty• The U.S. most use plea bargaining because of resources (money); less expensive than going to trial• 90% of all convicted are the results of a plea bargaino Grand Jury Are held in secret and usually the defendant is not there Usually consist of about 23 private citizens Serve as filters to eliminate cases without sufficient evidence Move the case forward if the majority of the jurors agree on an indictment Criticism: hear evidence only from the prosecutor (one sided)• Describe the nature and purpose of the criminal trialo Criminal trial involves an adversarial process that pits the prosecution against the defense.o Trials are peer-based fact-finding processes intended to protect the rights of the accused while disputed issues of guilt or innocence are resolvedo The primary purpose of a criminal trial is to determine whether a defendant, through his or her behavior, violated the criminal law of the jurisdiction in which the court has authority.• Identify the various stages of a criminal trialo Trial initiation (The Speedy Trial Act) The Federal Speedy Trial Act 6th Amendment• Allows for the dismissal of federal criminal charges in cases in which the prosecution does not seek an indictment or information within 30 days (when the grand jury is not in session) of arrest or• Where a trial does not begin within 70 working days after indictment for defendants who pleas “not guilty”• Klopfer v. North Carolina: speedy trial is a fundamental guarantee of the U.S. Constitution• Strunk v. U.S.: denial of a speedy trial should result in dismissal of all charges• U.S. v. Taylor: court ruled when delay is the result of actions by the defendant, the 70 day rule does not apply• Doggett v. U.S.: even the government cannot have an unreasonable delay State Speedy Trials• Most set a limit of 90 or 120 days as a reasonable period of time for a trial to begin because court documents get overloadedo Jury selection 6th Amendment: the process where members of a trial jury are chosen Challenge to the Array• The pool from which potential jurors are to be selected is not representative of the communityo It is argued in a motion before voir dire (jurors are expected to be unbiased and free of preconceived notions of guilt or innocence) Challenge for Cause• An individual juror cannot be fair or impartial• No teacher of criminal justice, no students of criminal justice, any officers or employers who train them, etc. Peremptory Challenge• The right to challenge a potential juror without disclosing the reason for the challengeo Prosecutors and defense attorneys use this mechanism to eliminate individuals from the jury who are thought to be capable of swaying the jury in an undesirable directiono Opening statements The initial statement of the prosecutor or the defense attorney, made in court of law to a judge or jury, describing the facts he or she intends to present during trial to prove the caseo The presentation of evidence Evidence: anything useful to a judge or jury in deciding the facts of a case.• Direct evidence: directly proves a fact.o Ex: eyewitness testimony, videotaped documents, etc.• Circumstantial evidence: evidence that requires interpretationo Ex: a smoking gun, the jury can conclude he or she pulled the trigger• Real evidence: physical materials or traces of physical activityo Closing arguments an oral summation of a case presented to a judge, or to a judge and jury, by the prosecution or by the defense in a criminal trialo Judge’s charge to the jury Judge charges the jury to “retire”: select one of its members as a foreman, and deliberate on the evidence that has been presented until it has reached a verdict The words of the judge “charge”: judges will remind members of the jury of their duty to consider objectively only the evidence that has been presented.o Jury deliberations Brief, weighing all evidence they have seen
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