Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: What is a preliminary hearing and what happens at this hearing?

Hello,

at a preliminary hearing before a judge it will be determined whether an accused will be charged with certain offenses, whether bail will be reduced, and whether certain constitutional issues and rights have been violated. This is one of the earliest stages in a criminal prosecution. It is the first opportunity to raise certain defenses and get a feel for the prosecution. It is a good time to have an experienced attorney on your side.

Re: What is a preliminary hearing and what happens at this hearing?

At a preliminary hearing, the judge (or magistrate) determines whether the defendant should be held to answer the charge (i.e, stand trial). The court determines if there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the crime. The proof needed is far less than the proof beyond a reasonable doubt necessary to convict. The prosecution will call witnesses. The defendant has a right to cross-examine. The defendant may call witnesses also but this is not advisable in most cases since the defendant will be held to answer anyway and the prosecution will have a pretrial opportunity to test the strength of the defendant's case and be better prepared to meet it at trial. It is almost never a good idea for the defendant to testify at a preliminary hearing.

If there are questions of illegal search and seizure, this is a nice opportunity to raise them since the court may consider only competent evidence. If the court agrees that evidence was illegally obtained and any other evidence is insufficient to support the charge, the court may discharge the defendant.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the court may hold the defendant to answer on some or all of the charges or none of them and may change the bail status or bail amount based on the evidence.