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What is a preliminary hearing?

Hi my name is Cindy Castillo with Castillo Law. I would like to talk about your preliminary hearing.

In certain circumstances you may have received a complaint in the mail and your attorney is asking whether or not you want to wave your preliminary hearing or if you want a preliminary hearing. Basically what the attorney is saying is: Do you want an officer to come into the court and explain to a commissioner or the judge exactly what the evidence is against you with respect to the crime that you’ve been charged with and do you want to be able to cross examine that officer with respect to the information that he has at that stage?

It is in some circumstances advisable to waive a preliminary hearing. It is always important to talk to attorney about the advantages of waving a preliminary hearing. In certain circumstances it’s not advisable to waive your preliminary hearing and it’s very important to have the officer or witness come in and testify before the judge in order to determine what is the evidence.

In situations where you may be saying I’m not the person that they believe I am. That’s always a very very good area for asking for a preliminary hearing, or if you believe that the offense charged was overcharged. That is another area where you might want to ask for a preliminary hearing.

Now what exactly is a preliminary hearing? A preliminary hearing is basically an opportunity for the state to present a witness or an officer before the court. Have that witness or officer tell the judge exactly what the evidence is against you and what evidence they have that you were the person that committed the crime. If the Commissioner or judge determines that there is sufficient evidence, reasonable person standard (they don’t have to determine at this stage that beyond a reasonable doubt just a reasonable person standard) that there is sufficient evidence then you will be held over for an arraignment in your case will be proceeding towards a trial. It does not necessarily mean they are going to trial at this stage it just means that there is sufficient evidence to move forward.

Your going to want to speak with an attorney in your situation. If you are in this situation feel free to contact me I do offer free consultations.
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