Charged with a felony in DC Superior Courtroom
So you have been charged with a criminal offense in DC Superior Courtroom. what occurs subsequent
The DC Superior Courtroom operates very like federal jurisdiction and the bail legal guidelines are similar to federal courtroom bail legal guidelines. There are a large number of controls that may be utilized to an individual going via the felony justice system with a criminal offense.
Accusation
Within the District of Columbia, if you’re arrested for a criminal offense that’s not a grand jury authentic, you will note a decide inside 48 hours, most frequently inside 24 hours. In DC that is referred to as a submitting and you might be charged per report. Your legal professional will waive the formal studying of the fees and request a preliminary listening to. The arraignment courtroom decide often known as Chamber C10 will decide whether or not you might be detained or launched on private recognizance. Whether or not you might be detained is predicated on numerous components, reminiscent of whether or not you might be on probation, parole, or have a pending case. In case you are on probation, parole or have a pending case, you may be detained for five days; after which, you’ll have your preliminary listening to and/or detention. In case you are charged with a violent and harmful crime, or in case you fail to look in courtroom usually, you can be detained for 3 days; after which, have a preliminary listening to and/or a detention listening to.
Preliminary Listening to
After the arraignment, you’ll have your preliminary listening to often earlier than a DC Superior Courtroom decide. There are two points on the preliminary listening to and/or detention listening to that will probably be paramount to you.
(1) There may be possible trigger that he dedicated the crime;
(2) If there may be possible trigger, must you be launched?
At this level, you’ll need an skilled legal professional to correctly make clear all of the information and your ties to the neighborhood in your launch.
After the preliminary listening to, the case will probably be certain over to a grand jury to find out if there may be possible trigger that you simply dedicated the crime.
Grand Jury
The Fifth Modification ensures that no individual shall be prosecuted for “a capital or in any other case notorious crime” until indicted by a grand jury. Courtroom guidelines and the D.C. Code require a grand jury to contemplate proof of any crime with a doable penalty of a couple of yr. Due to this fact, all felony circumstances should be offered to a grand jury, until the defendant waives the best to indict. The grand jury could include sixteen to twenty-three members. Twelve or extra jurors should comply with return an indictment.
State listening to
In case you are arrested after the detention listening to, the courtroom will schedule a standing listening to often inside 30 days to find out the standing of the case with the Grand Jury. Additionally presently, the Courtroom could examine whether or not plea negotiations are underway. Do not forget that your legal professional has an obligation to analysis, seek the advice of, and put together your case so that you could make an knowledgeable resolution about whether or not to plead or go to trial. You could have an absolute proper to know if a petition has been filed.
Trial by jury
If you don’t settle for the federal government’s provide, you’ll have a jury trial the place twelve members of your neighborhood will resolve past an affordable doubt whether or not you dedicated the crime.
sentence
In the event you lose the trial or plead responsible, you’ll have a sentencing listening to inside 2 months. The explanation it takes months is as a result of the Courtroom conducts a pre-sentence investigation the place a probation officer makes a suggestion to the courtroom about what sentence it’s best to obtain based mostly on social and background data. Presently, your legal professional can ship character letters and different gadgets that present your good character.
This has been a simplistic rationalization of a criminal offense via DC Superior Courtroom, however please be aware that it’s a tough define and it’s best to search an skilled legal professional to information you thru this course of.
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