Steps of Criminal Proceedings

Anton Nickloi    Auto Accident    

Have any ideas what you need to know about a typical criminal proceeding? As most of the experienced criminal attorney remains busy in resolving various crime related issues through out the year it is apparent how people get short of proper  information  while in need and thus get into trouble.

For Petty Cases:

Crimes can be categorized as petty crime, minor offences, misdemeanour, felony etc. For minor offences resulting from innocence, summary proceeding is conducted to resolve the case. You will get a ticket charging petty offences for it. Your signature on the ticket would ensure your agreement to pay the fine or appear in the court. You will see your name on the face of the ticket as a defendant, the date and time of the offence. You would also see name of the law enforcement officer issuing the ticket, the location, telephone number of the court and the date to be appeared.

For petty crimes you can just call the court to know the amount of fine, plead your guilty and send payment for the fine. If you want to have the hearing on the matter, be present in the court for the assigned trial. This is the time you can hire an attorney at the hearing to defend yourself. Usually at the first hearing, you would hear the trial and once the evidence is submitted, the sentence would be rendered.

For Major Offences:

If it is the misdemeanour or the felony the criminal proceeding could be more complicated for you. For felony proceedings you can follow the general steps as discussed here.

Booking: In this administrative procedure, defendant’s name, the crime charged, and other relevant information about the defendant like telephone number and address, photograph, fingerprints are recorded.

Accusation: Here the defendant is presented with a written accusation by a grand jury, a prosecutor or a police officer

Detention or bail: To avoid being detained or posted in jail till the trial your own recognizance can pay many thousands of dollars. So the defendant can be released but have to appear at the next hearing.

Preliminary hearing: Here the judge determines whether the defendant should be held responsible for trial.

Sentencing: If found guilty by trial a hearing will be set to determine the imposition of sentence. Sentencing reports are being submitted to the judge.

Punishment like fine, probation or jail: depending on the court orders the defendant has to go through these penalties.

Appeal: After the conviction of the crime is over the defendant can appeal whether all the procedural law issues were properly followed or not.

Attorney Help:

Get a case evaluation from a Criminal Lawyer if you have any query about Tennessee DUI Penalties. For further visitation please refer www.nashvillecriminallawyer.com.

If you enjoyed this article please consider sharing it!