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Your Criminal Trial is Where the Best Criminal Defense Attorneys Shines So, you’ve had your final Pretrial Conference and was given a trial date, now what? Well, after all the motions (if any) are heard, your trial will begin. If you have chosen a waiver or judge trial, opening arguments are almost always skipped since they are deemed not necessary with a judge since he or she is familiar with the legal system already. (Usually at this point, the judge already knows at lea...st a little bit about the facts and charges of the case from the Pretrial Conferences and any motions.) The Commonwealth goes first with their case by presenting witnesses and evidence for consideration. Your attorney will object to certain testimony and evidence if they feel it is not relevant enough to the case to be allowed into your trial. According to Federal Rule of Evidence 401, the test for relevance is whether the evidence has a tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Hence, the judge must look at the materiality or the degree of the relationship of the evidence to the facts, and probative value or does the evidence make it more or less likely that the disputed fact is true. If the judge rules that the evidence is not relevant than the evidence is obviously not allowed into your trial. (Which evidence is allowed into a trial is much more complicated than this sometimes, but that is beyond the scope of this article.) After a witness testifies, then your attorney is allowed to cross examine the witness. This is where your attorney gets a chance to really demonstrate his worth since cross examination is the hardest and most important part of most criminal trials. Witnesses usually sound great on direct examination since they are only talking about the things that they want to talk about AND no one is challenging what they are saying. But sometimes, after a good cross examination, witnesses sound a lot less credible than they did on direct. Cross examination on television shows and movies are different than in real life often times because the attorneys (actors) say things that are not allowed in a real life trial. Hence, in real life there are generally less fireworks during cross examination than on television shows or in the movies. But, that doesn’t mean that they are not very effective sometimes. After the Commonwealth puts on all their witnesses and evidence, they rest, and the case is turned over to the defense. What happens now will be discussed in the next article.

It Helps Having A Criminal Defense Lawyer at Your Pre-trial Conference So, what happens after your Preliminary Hearing and before your trial? In Philadelphia, for example, you are given an arraignment exactly three (3) weeks afterwards. Not much happens there except that you are given your Pre-trial court date in a Smart Room, where the offers are made (about three (3) weeks later). In addition, on the day of your arraignment, the discovery is made available online to yo...ur attorney. At your Pre-trial, your offer is conveyed to your attorney who then conveys it to you that day if you are not in custody. Sometimes your attorney is able to convince the Assistant District Attorney to give you are a better deal than the original offer (hence, the term, negotiated offer). Once the negotiations are finished you have four (4) choices: 1. you can accept the negotiated offer and plead guilty; 2. you can plead guilty to the charges and let the judge determine your sentence based upon the guidelines (called pleading open); 3. you can ask for a jury trial; and 4. you can ask for a judge trial (also called a waiver trial since you are waiving your right to a jury). If you are in custody, you are given a short continuance so that your attorney has time to convey the offer to you. If you decide to plead guilty, you are brought down to the court house from the prison on the next court for your guilty plea. If you decide not to plead guilty, you are given a new court in front of your trial judge for another Pre-trial. If you plead guilty, sometimes you are also sentenced that day. Other times, as in more complicated or serious cases, a Presentence Investigation Report (and sometimes a Mental Health Evaluation too) is ordered. Then about two (2) months later, you sentenced by the judge at your next court date. (Counties other than Philadelphia do things slightly differently, but the end result is the same.) See more

The Best Criminal Defense Attorney can Help at Your Preliminary Hearing While not as important as your Trial, your Preliminary Hearing is still very important. So, what happens at a Preliminary Hearing? Essentially, a Judge (or in some communities, a District Justice) has to determine if the charges that have been filed against you should go forward to the trial stage. This is done after the Commonwealth or State puts on evidence in an attempt to establish that a Prima Facie ...Case sufficient to establish a fact or raise a presumption unless disproved or rebutted has been established against the defendant for each specific charge. The standard is supposedly more likely than not that a crime was committed, however, since the Judge does not assess the credibility of the witness (they have to assume that the witness is telling the truth) it is impossible to really evaluate what they hear using that standard. In other words: How can you determine if a crime was more than likely than not was committed if the witness’s credibility is not assessed? Confused? That’s OK, so is everyone else that is involved. Are There Witnesses in a Preliminary Hearing? Witnesses are almost never put up in defense because it won’t do any good since even if the evidence you put forth is credible, the Judge has to assume that the commonwealth’s witness’s evidence is credible. So, even if you decide to put up ten witnesses that say it didn’t happen the way that the Commonwealth witness says it happened it won’t change the outcome of the Preliminary Hearing. While this doesn’t seem fair, keep in mind that the defendant is not convicted of anything since it wasn’t a trial. Another concept that is different than trial is that hearsay is often allowed in along as it reasonable to believe that the witness will be available for trial. Normally this is done in order to be more efficient such as in the case of police officers. After the Common witness testifies the defendant’s attorney is allowed to cross examine the witness. However, certain questions are not allowed such as questions that would go to a motion (such as a motion to suppress evidence) because they are considered to part of the trial stage. Bail can also be lowered or increased at a Preliminary Hearing depending on the circumstances. After all the testimony is concluded, the Judge makes a ruling on which charges should go forward to the trial stage and the defendant is given a date for an arraignment.

You Need the Best Criminal Defense Lawyer at Your Bail Hearing Or maybe not it depends on the seriousness of the charges. So, what exactly happens when a person gets arrested and has a bail hearing? After a person is picked up after being charged with a crime (in Philadelphia County), they are either held at a police district or the Roundhouse (at 8th and Race Street). They are then processed where they are fingerprinted and interviewed for personal information (name, ...date of birth, home address, work information, and close relatives). These facts are gathered so that can be used at the bail hearing. After that, the defendant’s name is put on the general bail arraignment list and eventually they come up for a hearing. Normally, all of this takes around 8-15 hours, but on the weekend it can around 24 hours because more people are arrested and they still have only one Commissioner. At the bail hearing there is a Bail Commissioner (who is not a judge), a District Attorney representative (not an attorney), and an attorney representing the defendant (either the Public Defender or a private attorney if they have been hired already). This is done in the basement of the Criminal Justice Center although the defendant is not present, but instead is on camera at the police district or the Roundhouse. The DA’s representative reads in the criminal accusations and their request for bail ranging from ROR (released on recognizance and no requirement to post any bail) to no bail in murder cases. There are bail guidelines (based on the severity of the charges) for the Commissioner to consider and two main factors: danger to the community and the likelihood that the defendant will show up for court (i.e., is he or she a flight risk?). The defendant’s attorney then argues for what they consider to be the appropriate bail for them. The Commissioner then makes a ruling for the defendant’s bail amount. Either side can appeal the Commissioner’s ruling. If this happens, a Judge hears the facts and arguments (an Assistant District Attorney, or ADA, now represents the Commonwealth) over the phone and makes a final ruling on the bail amount. After the bail is set, the information is sent over (usually 30-60 minutes later) to the where the bail is posted (also in the basement of the Criminal Justice Center) and the defendant’s friends and relatives can now post the bail.

New PA Expungement Law the Best Criminal Defense Lawyer Helps Governor Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 166, sponsored by Senator Stewart Greenleaf, into law, which expands criminal record sealing in Pennsylvania in order to reduce recidivism, relieve the pardon system, and provide ex-offenders greater opportunity to join the workforce. Governor Wolf was joined today at a bill signing ceremony by Sen. Greenleaf, Rep. Jordan Harris, chairs of Judiciary committees and various crim...Continue reading

The Best Criminal Defense Attorney Explains Your Trial Options to You Once your case is held for court and gets past the preliminary hearing, you will have four basic options as to how your case will progress. Your choices are: 1. Jury Trial; 2. Judge or Waiver Trial; 3. Negotiated Guilty Plea; and 4. Open Guilty Plea. The difference between a jury trial and a waiver (judge) trial is that in a waiver trial, the judge determines whether you are guilty or not; while in a jur...y trial, the jury determines whether you are guilty or not. If the jury is hung, there will be no verdict and the case remains open. The District Attorney's Office will usually retrial you or sometimes make you a new offer. In both types of trials, the judge make all legal rulings (including any motions, such as a motion to suppress) and determines your sentence if you are found guilty of at least one charge (except in Capital Murder Cases where the jury determines whether you get the death penalty or life imprisonment). In Philadelphia, after your arraignment you are given a pre-trial in a lets-make-a-deal room. If you take the deal, the case is over after you plead guilty. You can turn down the offer and plead open, which means you are plead guilty and let the judge determines your sentence. In these instances, the judges have guidelines that are supposed to follow unless they have good reason not to follow them. If you decide that instead that you don't want to plead guilty, you can ask to be spun to a trial room where you will have a choice between the aforementioned jury or waive trials. See more

Learn what Option You have in Philadelphia Criminal Trials Once your case is held for court and gets past the preliminary hearing, you will have four basic options as to how your case will progress. Your choices are: 1. Jury Trial; 2. Judge or Waiver Trial; 3. Negotiated Guilty Plea; and 4. Open Guilty Plea. The difference between a jury trial and a waiver (judge) trial is that in a waiver trial, the judge determines whether you are guilty or not; while in a jury trial, th...e jury determines whether you are guilty or not. If the jury is hung, there will be no verdict and the case remains open. The District Attorney's Office will usually retrial you or sometimes make you a new offer. In both types of trials, the judge make all legal rulings (including any motions, such as a motion to suppress) and determines your sentence if you are found guilty of at least one charge (except in Capital Murder Cases where the jury determines whether you get the death penalty or life imprisonment). In Philadelphia, after your arraignment you are given a pre-trial in a lets-make-a-deal room. If you take the deal, the case is over after you plead guilty. You can turn down the offer and plead open, which means you are plead guilty and let the judge determines your sentence. In these instances, the judges have guidelines that are supposed to follow unless they have good reason not to follow them. If you decide that instead that you don't want to plead guilty, you can ask to be spun to a trial room where you will have a choice between the aforementioned jury or waive trials. See more

What is the Stop and Frisk Law in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania? Can the police in Philadelphia stop and frisk you without a good reason? No. A stop-and-frisk refers to a brief non-intrusive police stop of a suspect. The Fourth Amendment requires that before stopping the suspect, the police must have a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed by the suspect. If the police reasonably suspect that the suspect is armed and dangerous, th...e police may frisk the suspect, meaning that the police will give a quick pat-down of the suspect's outer clothing. The frisk is also called a Terry Stop, derived from the Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). Terry held that a stop-and-frisk must comply with the Fourth Amendment, meaning that the stop-and-frisk cannot be unreasonable. According to the Terry court, a reasonable stop-and-frisk is one "in which a reasonably prudent officer is warranted in the circumstances of a given case in believing that his safety or that of others is endangered, he may make a reasonable search for weapons of the person believed by him to be armed and dangerous." Stop and frisk is when police temporarily detain somebody and pat down their outer clothing when there are specific articulable facts leading a reasonable police officer to believe a person is armed and dangerous. It is not necessary for the officer to articulate or identify a specific crime they think is being committed, only that a set of factual circumstances exist that would lead a reasonable officer to have a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is occurring. Reasonable suspicion is one step below probable cause and one step above a hunch. A "frisk" by definition is a type of search that requires a lawful stop. It is best thought of as a separate act, but in practice, a suspect who refuses to answer questions in a stop may be providing the officer with sufficient justification to frisk. A frisk should not be for anything other than a dangerous weapon or contraband. However, if other evidence, like a suspected drug container, is felt, it can be seized by the officer under the "plain feel" doctrine. The test for plain feel is that the item's contraband nature be "immediately apparent".

Should You Take the Stand at Your Criminal Trial? After the Commonwealth (or State) rests in your criminal case you will have a chance to put on a defense by providing evidence and testimony. One such evidence is your direct testimony, i.e, you taking the stand. But should you? Theoretically, the trier of fact (a judge or a jury) cannot hold it against you if you don't because the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution prevents self incrimination ("no person may be compelled... to testify against himself"). Whether that actually happens in reality is hard to tell since in the back of everyone's mind is "if he has nothing to hide why doesn't he take the stand?" Even so, more often than not defendants doesn't take the stand in a criminal trial because of the risks involved. What are the risks? Well, people get nervous taking the stand and are not as good on the stand as they think that they will be. Even if he the defendant didn't make a statement he could be caught in a lie, inconsistency, exaggeration, or a story that doesn't make sense. And that, coupled with previous evidence, might seal the conviction for the Commonwealth. Obviously if the Commonwealth did not have enough for a conviction without the faulty testimony -- this could be a disaster. However, sometimes in a he said, she said type of case (rape, assaults) the defendant doesn't have much choice because otherwise the trier of facts only hears one side of the story. It is not always clear whether the defendant should take the stand but you should generally listen to your criminal defense attorney who has the experience to make this judgement call.

The Best Criminal Defense Attorney Won't Have the Defendant Testify at a Criminal Preliminary Hearing If you have ever been involved in or watched a Criminal Preliminary Hearing -- afterwards you might have wondered why the defendant didn't take the stand. The reason that the defendant rarely, if ever, takes the stand is because of the legal rules of a preliminary hearing. Since credibility is not assessed, the judge has to assume -- for purpose of the preliminary hearing o...nly -- that the witness is telling the truth. And none of the evidence presented by the defense (or the Commonwealth or State for that matter) will change the legal affect of the witness's testimony. Hence, since putting the defendant on the stand won't make the witnesses testimony false it doesn't do any good to put the defendant on the stand. Not only can't the defendant's testimony help at a preliminary not help, it could hurt. Why? Well, now you a record of the defense's theory of the case and his potential testimony at trial. Essentially, the Commonwealth now have the equivalency of a written statement by the defendant -- something the defense always wants to avoid. (Why is beyond the scope of this article and I have a four minute video explaining why at the bottom left of my website, markdhauser.com.)

Why the Best Criminal Defense Attorney Will Get You a Not Guilty Verdict (but not prove that you are innocent) Lay people and the media (who should know better) often claim that they (or someone else) were found innocent even though technically this has never happened in a criminal trial in the history of the United States. That's because in our justice system, there are only two possible verdicts in criminal case: guilty and not guilty. If you are found guilty it merely m...eans that there was enough evidence presented in your trial to convince the trier of fact (be it a judge or a jury) that there was proof "beyond a reasonable doubt". This is an abstract concept, and hence, is subjective. If you would pause or hesitate in making an important decision in your life, that would be "reasonable doubt"; otherwise it would be "beyond a reasonable doubt" and a guilty verdict is rendered. Hence, by default, a not guilty verdict occurs when the tier of fact thinks that there is reasonable doubt. However, it does NOT mean that they were proven "innocent" since our system does not have that possible verdict (or standard). It merely means "that there was not evidence to prove them guilty." This sounds subtle but there is more of a difference than it appears. When someone is found "not guilty" it is still possible that they committed the crime while being found "innocent" suggests that it is not possible that they committed the crime. As you can imagine, this would be very difficult to prove which is the main reason why the founders of our country left it out as a possible verdict. In addition, it would have no additional legal effect than "not guilty" since all that matters is that they were not found "guilty." Also, as you have heard several times before -- the defendant never has to prove his innocence.

What are the Qualifications for ARD for a DUI Arrest in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania Generally? First of all, what is ARD? Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) is a special pre-trial intervention program in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States for non-violent offenders with no prior or limited record. In the City of Philadelphia a person can qualify for the ARD Program if: 1. they have no previous misdemeanor or felony convictions (summary offenses a...re allowed); 2. they had proper license, registration, and insurance on the car in use during the arrest; 3. did not receive ARD in the last 10 years; 4. did not have a passenger under the age of 14 years of age; 5. was not involved in an accident where someone other than the accused was seriously injured 6. did not refuse the blood or breathalyzer test 7. did not leave the scene of the accident if there was one; 8. did not try to allude the police at the time of the DUI. Other counties in Pennsylvania have similar, but not identical rules for ARD eligibility. What happens when a person enters the ARD program? The person receives no jail time, is put on probation for 6-12 months, pays fines of around $500.00, takes a safe driving course, and possibly attends drug counseling sessions if deemed appropriate. Their driver's license is suspended for 30 days if their blood alcohol content is between .10 and .16, 60 days if it over .16 or if there is drugs in their system, and no suspension if it under .10. If the person completes the ARD program successfully, then their record with automatically be expunged approximately six months later. However, if the person is convicted of another DUI in the next ten years, this will be considered their second DUI despite the ARD program and the expungement.

The Best Criminal Defense Attorney will Ask for a Motion for a Directed Verdict What exactly is a Motion for Directed Verdict in a Criminal Case in Philadelphia Pennsylvania? Well, let's say that you were charged with Aggravated Assault, chose to have a jury trial and the Commonwealth just rested their case. Now, before the Defense puts on a case, your criminal defense lawyer can make a Motion for Directed for some or all the charges. Essentially, your lawyers is saying to... the Judge that the Commonwealth, through the Assistant District Attorney, has not presented enough evidence that would allow a reasonable Jury (or a Judge in a waiver trial) to find you guilty. If the Judge agrees then some or all the charges are dismissed at this point. If all the charges are dismissed then the case is over with and it has the same affect as the Defendant being found not guilty of all charges. If some of the charges are dismissed then the trial continues with the remaining charges as the defense presents its case. The standard of proof is lower than the final trial standard of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, hence, the Motion can be denied for some or all of the charges but after the trial the defendant can be found not guilty (even if the Defense presents no evidence). The reason that it is important that a Motion for Directed Verdict is made by your criminal lawyer is because you never know if the evidence that the Defense presents end up being harmful. For example, the Defendant takes the stand and is not believable -- this would obviously hurt the defense's case and may result in a conviction. Hence, by making the Motion your attorney removes some of your risk of putting on evidence or witnesses testifying.