Criminal Law
Criminal cases in California are divided into 2 categories: Felonies and Misdemeanors.
Misdemeanors:
Misdemeanors are defined as crimes punishable by a maximum of one year in the county jail. Misdemeanors include most DUIs, petty thefts, simple assaults, and many other common crimes.
Arraignment: The first court appearance is an arraignment. This is the time when you are officially informed of the charges against you, and your attorney is given most of the evidence that the prosecutor plans to use against you in your case.
Time waivers: You have the right to a speedy trial. At the arraignment, you can insist that they bring you to trial quickly, or you can choose to waive this right. This decision will depend on the facts of your case, and you should discuss it with your lawyer.
Pre-Trial Conference: The next court appearance is usually a pre-trial conference. At this point, your lawyer will have become familiar with the fact of your case and the law that applies to those specific facts. At the pre-trial conference, your lawyer will typically go into the Judge’s chambers with the Judge and Prosecutor (D.A.) and try to resolve your case. At this point, your case may be dismissed, or the D.A. may make an offer to reduce some charges if you are willing to plea guilty to other charges. At this point, your lawyer will talk to you about the offer and give his/her opinion about whether this is a good offer or not. As you generally will not know if this is a reasonable offer, it is vital to have a lawyer that you trust. If you decide to accept this offer, the case is usually over. If not, it continues towards trial.
Motions: There are many motions that your attorney can make to help your case. They depend on the facts of your case, and there are too many to summarize here. Most motions result in a hearing, and the time frame depends on the complexity of the motions.
Trial: If your case is still not resolved, it is set for trial. At trial in California cases, a jury of 12 people must unanimously find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for you to be convicted of any crime. If 11 people vote guilty and 1 votes not guilty, it is a mistrial. The D.A. then has the choice to try again or to dismiss your case.
Felonies:
Felonies are more serious than misdemeanors, and are punishable by a sentence in State Prison. Since they are more serious, defendants are given additional protections.
Felonies begin the same way as misdemeanors, with an arraignment and pre-trial conference. However, in felonies, there is an additional step, called a preliminary hearing.
Preliminary Hearing: Individuals charged with felonies are usually given a preliminary hearing. At the preliminary hearing, the D.A. must prove to a judge that they have enough evidence to continue prosecuting the case. At this hearing, the D.A. will often call police officers and other witness to prove their case. Your lawyer will cross examine all witnesses produced by the D.A. At the end of the hearing, the judge will decide if enough evidence has been presented for the case to continue. If the judge feels there has not been enough evidence, the case is dismissed. If the judge feels there has been enough evidence, the case is certified to the superior court, and the process begins again.
If the case is certified to superior court, there is a new arraignment, new pretrial conferences, new motions filed on your behalf, and if the case is not dismissed or an adequate settlement is not reached, the case is set for trial.
Posting Bail
f you are arrested, you may be held in custody. If this happens, a bail amount will normally be set. This means that you are required to post the amount of the bail for you to be released from custody. The purpose of bail is to insure that you return to court for future court appearances. If you pay the bail, are released from custody, and then do not come to future court appearances, you may forfeit your entire bail amount.
As an example, let’s assume that you are arrested and your bail is set at $50,000. There are several ways you can have bail posted:
Posting Bail Yourself: If a friend or family member is able to post the entire bail, they simply go to the courthouse, post the bail, and you are released. If you come to all of your court appearances and do not violate any other conditions of your release, at the end of your case, the entire amount will be returned. This is the cheapest and easiest way to post bail.
Bail Bonds: If you cannot afford the entire amount of bail, a friend or family member can go to a bail bondsman. You pay the bail bondsman 10% of the bail, and they will post the remaining 90%. In our example, you pay the bail bondsman $5,000, and they pay the rest. The only catch is that at the end of the case, you do not get your $5,000 back. The bail bondsman keeps this as his/her fee. If you are going to use a bail bondsman, contact Scot Candell & Associates. We have
relationships with many bail bondsmen and can often obtain a lower rate for our clients.
Property Bond:
If you own property, you can post a property bond. This process is complicated, takes several weeks, and should be done with a lawyer. If you need to post a property bond, you can contact The Law Offices of Scot Candell for assistance.
