CCJ2020 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE CHAPTER 10 List and explain the steps typically taken during pretrial activities o 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 defendant o The filing of information by the prosecutor or the return of an indictment by the grand jury o Arraignment Two purposes Inform the suspect of specific charges the defendant may enter a plea of guilty not guilt and nolo contendere o Nolo contendere a civil liability added level of protection o Most likely to get released theft assault offenses rape at state level defendant not 100 guilty 3 main factors Background history Live in the jurisdiction in which arrested Employed tied to community least likely to come back o Pretrial release Difference in release rate in state and federal levels of murder a capital offense Bail ensure reappearance of the accused in court and prevents unconvicted person from suffering imprisonment unnecessarily Alternatives to Bail o 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 bond o 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 courts o 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 o Grand Jury 90 of all convicted are the results of a plea bargain Are held in secret and usually the defendant is not there Usually consist of about 23 private citizens Move the case forward if the majority of the jurors agree on an indictment Criticism hear evidence only from the prosecutor one sided Serve as filters to eliminate cases without sufficient evidence Describe the nature and purpose of the criminal trial o 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 resolved o 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 trial o 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 overloaded o 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 community o 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 challenge o 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 direction o 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 case o 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 interpretation o Ex a smoking gun the jury can conclude he or she pulled the trigger Real evidence physical materials or traces of physical activity o Closing arguments o Judge s charge to the jury 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 trial 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 o The verdict Brief weighing all evidence they have seen and heard the decision of the jury in a jury trial or of a judicial officer in a nonjury trial Describe suggestions that have been made for improving the adjudication process Identified a weakness in the trial process o o Suggested improvements are
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