Reality of Criminal Court

SGT Leonard, krawczyk

708th medical company

REALITY OF CRIMINAL COURT

Criminal court is the luxury of going through a tedious process of breaking a law. Once you have been arrested and have to go to court because of the arrest, you now have a criminal case appointed against you. The first thing you should do is contact a good well known lawyer that has many successful cases in your specific matter. I would never recommend a public offender. Simply do to the fact that there a hit or miss with professional knowledge. Their working as a low basic paid job. Often over whelmed in other cases, they would most likely only meet you while you where walking up to the stand. Public defenders are employed by the low paying government to provide free public legal representation for clients that cannot afford a lawyer. You can only get a public defender if you are the defendant in a criminal case. Free public lawyers are not provided by the government in civil cases. A public defender must be appointed by the judge on your first court date. You cannot get a public defender before your first court date. To have a public defender appointed, go to court on your court date and kindly ask the judge to appoint a lawyer for you. The judge will ask you some questions about your income and decide if you qualify for a public defender. If your first court date is for a bond hearing, a public defender should be available in the courtroom to prevent you if you cannot afford a private attorney. Also if you are unsure if whether you have a public defender has been appointed yet, call public defender office in your county and ask them to look your case up. Many are located right across the court house as my lawyer was.

In the court you will be presented with a charge and have to attend court on the date and time given to you. It is very important that you follow that subpoena other wise other charges can be brought up against you. In a criminal case you can be found guilty or known as convicted. You can be found innocent which is known as acquitted. Or perhaps the criminal charges can be dropped, or in a plea bargain the charges can be reduced to a lesser crime. "As such as my DUI case drop to a wreck less and driving charges in the end". Often after a charge is accused of an individual. The first thing that happens after you are arrested and accused of the crime is that your bond will be set or probation will be set. Sometimes the bond is set by the judge at a court hearing. This is called bond court for some crimes the bond amount is already decided and you can released from the police station and given a court date by a police officer. If you can pay the bond amount, or are given a non cash bond. You will be set free on bond until your next court date. If you cannot simply pay the bond amount or there is no bond, you will be held in the county jail until the next court date. As for probation, is a period of time that the defendant is placed under the supervision of adult probation and probation officer. The defendant remains in the community and reports to his/her probation officer on a regular basis and must follow any conditions ordered by the court. If for some chance you miss your court date, there are few things that you should do. Immediately contact the public defender office in your county and ask for assistance. If you have missed any court date after your first one you should contact your private lawyer or public defender right away. In also often times you are unable to make a court date. In the event of an emergency for example, you should contact your public defender or private lawyer. If you do not have a private attorney and public defender has not been appointed yet, immediately contact the public defender office in your county and ask for help.

For the next court date is usually the preliminary hearing, where the judge will determine if there is enough evidence against you to have to trial and presentable for a prosecutor. If the preliminary hearings are not the case sometimes a grand jury hearing is held. A grand jury is a group of people, just like a trial jury. They decide whether to issue an indictment against you. A grad jury proceeding is secret; meaning neither you nor your lawyer is allowed to be in the courtroom while it is taking place. You will find out after words if a trial will take place. From Illinois where I live a preliminary and grand jury usually must be taken place 30 days of your arrest, if you are begin held at a county jail. Or 60 days on bond do to the fact of over crowding of the county jails. Along with these hearings is an arraignment. Where the charges against you will be read out loud and you will have the opportunity to plead, or officially state that you are either innocent or guilty. Your lawyer is there to help