Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: felonies

A defendant or defense attorney cannot unilaterally change a felony to a misdemeanor. The only ways to accomplish this would be:

(1) conduct a preliminary examination in district court [a probable cause hearing] and try to get the district court judge to NOT find probable cause evidence exists supporting comission of a felony-level crime, only a misdemeanor (at best);

(2) after a preliminary exam bind-over of the case to circuit court, file a motion with the circuit court to quash the information [charging document] that was filed in the circuit court;

(3) file an appeal in circuit court of the district court's bind-over decision claiming that probable cause for a felony level crime was not presented at the hearing;

(4) negotiate with the prosecutor to plea bargain the charge to a misdemeanor; or

(5) take the case to trial and raise reasonable doubt in the jury's (or bench trial judge's) mind that a felony-level crime had occurred.

felonies

For information on Michigan criminal cases, go to:

www.AggressiveCriminalDefense.com

Re: felonies

Thank you for your inquiry to my office.

The most frequent way to accomplish a reduction in severity of a criminal charge from a felony to a misdemeanor is through plea negotiations with the District Attorney. The best way to accomplish this is to conduct pretrial motions attacking the weight and credibility of their evidence against you.

If you are out of state and have a pending criminal charge in Nevada my office would be able to represent you without you having to make court appearances unless we require a trial.

If you'd like to discuss your case further feel free to contact my office at the number below.

Regards,

Jim Herbe, Esq.

702.966.5690