Introductory (What is Criminal Trail)

Court Trail:

A court trial, also called a bench trial, is when all the facts of a case are heard, and a judge makes the final decision about the court case.  There are several processes that take place in a court trial, so let's take a look at those.

Pre-Trial Process

The process for a court trial may vary by each courtroom. We will look at a basic outline of a court trial. The first part of a court trial is the process that takes place before the actual trial. During this process, the offender has to be read their charges. The offender must also be made aware of the consequences of the crimes they are being tried for.

After he has been read their charge the offender will then enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.  The judge will also have to set bail for the offender if they have pleaded not guilty and also filed bail application.

A preliminary hearing is held. Here, the state must demonstrate that there is enough evidence to charge the offender and enough probable cause to show that a crime has been committed. Once the preliminary hearing shows there is enough evidence to try the offender, a trial date is set. A trial date is the date on which the judge will hear testimony of witnesses, review all the evidence, and make a final ruling. There is a process to the trial, and we'll explore that further.

Trial Process

At the trial, both sides will give their opening statements. The opening statements will state why the state feels the offender is guilty and why the offender feels they are innocent. After the opening statements, the evidence will be presented and witnesses can be called and asked questions. Each party can then give rebuttals to the evidence or the witness statements.

Once the rebuttals are done, both sides give their closing statements. The judge then takes all the information presented and makes a ruling. After the judge gives its ruling (or verdict), the judge will sentence the offender. During each part of the court process, there are rules that need to be followed. We'll now look at the rules in place during a court trial.

Download Files

ta-book.pdf (3.16 MB )