Be Prepared!
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Basic Information About Your Trial
Arraignment:Usually the first formal hearing in court, just to enter a plea and see if your name is spelled correctly.
Trial:
The first pre-trial matters are usually taken care of by the lawyers and judge. So it usually requires no witnesses, testimony or special preparation on your part. One common exception to this rule exists if the authorities illegally searched you or something belonging to you, or if you were identified in a “line-up” or gave a confession. If any of these things happened to you be sure to tell us.
Pre-Trial Conference:
This is a brief meeting with the D.A. used by the Court to find out if we want a plea-bargain or jury trial, so that the judge knows on which docket the case should go. If the D.A. hasn’t given us a plea offer by then, he will at the hearing. You don’t need to make any special preparations. But you do need to think about how you want to take care of your case and discuss it with me, so we are not trying to decide at the last minute something so important to your future.
Plea Hearing:
You go in front of the judge to plead guilty (usually) with a plea-bargain. In certain counties, this is your last chance to take a plea-bargain before you go to jury trial.
Jury or Bench Trial:
“THE BIG ONE”- typically in front of a jury although sometimes in front of just the judge (Bench Trial). You may be set for a jury trial many times before your case actually goes to trial. A jury trial taken a lot of preparation. You have to help. Call IMMEDIATELY for an appointment. The estimated time for your trial is 2 days.
Open Plea:
Here, you plead guilty but without a plea bargain, so the judge decides your punishment. We will usually need character witnesses, etc. Also known as “throwing yourself on the mercy of the Court.” Call IMMEDIATELY for an appointment.
The Pre-Sentence Investigation is an interview with the Probation Department. They will ask you things about your background, your education, your personal habits, whether you ark a substance abuser, the number of times you have been arrested, etc. You should not say anything to them about your case. If they ask you questions about your case, you should say, “My lawyer told me not to answer the questions.” Otherwise, you should cooperate with the interviewer, unless I tell you otherwise.