Chapter 10: PreTrial Activities and the Criminal Trial

Speedy Trial Act

a 1974 federal law requiring that proceedings against a defendant in a federal criminal case begin within a specified period of time, such as 70 working days after indictment. Some states also have speedy trial requirements.

bail bond

a document guaranteeing the appearance of a defendant in court as required and recording the pledge of money or property to be paid to the court if he or she does not appear, which is signed by the person to be release and anyone else acting on his or her behalf.

competent to stand trial

a finding by a court that the defendant has sufficient present ability to consult with his or her attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and that the defendant has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him or her.

sequestered jury

a jury that is isolated from the public during the course of a trial and throughout the deliberation process

danger law

a law intended to prevent the pretrial release of criminal defendants judged to represent a danger to others in the community.

nolo contendere

a please of "no contest". A no contest please is used when the defendant does not wish to contest conviction. Because the plea does not admit guilt, however it cannot provide the basis for later civil suits that might follow a criminal conviction.

first appearance

an appearance before a magistrate during which the legality of the defendants arrest is initially assessed and the defendant is informed of the charges on which he or she is being held. At this stage in the criminal justice process, bail may be set or pretrial release arranged.

closing argument

an oral summation of a case presented to a judge, or to a judge and jury, by the prosecution or by the defense in a criminal trial.

evidence

anything useful to a judge or jury in deciding the facts of a case. Evidence may take the form of witness testimony, written documents, videotapes, magnetic media, photographs, physical objects and so on.

rules of evidence

court rules that govern the admissibility of evidence at criminal hearing and trials

direct evidence

evidence that if believed direct proves a fact. Eyewitness testimony and videotaped documentation account for the majority of all direct evidence heard in the criminal courtroom.

circumstantial evidence

evidence that requires interpretation or that requires a judge or jury to reach a conclusion based on what the evidence indicates,. From the proximity of the defendant to a smoking gun, for example, the jury might conclude that he or she pulled the trigger.

plea

in criminal proceedings, the defendant's formal answer in court to the charge contained in a complaint, information, or indictment that he or she is guilty of the offense charged, is not guilty of the offense charged or does not contest the charge.

reasonable doubt

in legal proceedings, an actual and substantial doubt arising from the evidence, from the facts or circumstances shown by the evidence, or from the lack of evidence. Also, the state of a case such that after the comparison and consideration of all the evidence, jurors cannot say they feel an abiding conviction of the truth of the charge.

testimony

oral evidence offered by a sworn witness on the witness stand during a criminal trial

hearsay

something that is not based on the personal knowledge of a witness. Witnesses who testify about something they have heard, for example are offering hearsay by repeating information about a matter of which they have no direct knowledge.

verdict

the decisions of the jury in a jury trial or of a judicial officer in a non-jury trial

probative value

the degree to which a particular item of evidence is useful in, and relevant to, proving something important in a trial.

opening statement

the initial statement of the prosecutor or the defense attorney made in a court of law to a judge or jury, describing the facts that he or she intends to present during trial to prove the case.

perjury

the intentional making of a false statement as part of the testimony by a sworn witness in a judicial proceeding on a matter relevant to the case at hand

hearsay rule

the long-standing precedent that hearsay cannot be used in American courtrooms. Rather than accepting testimony based on hearsay, the court will ask that the person who was the original source of the hearsay information be brought in to be questioned when the person with direct knowledge is dead or is otherwise unable to testify.

release on recognizance

the pretrial release of a criminal defendant on his or her written promise to appear in court as required. No cash or property bond is required

plea bargaining

the process of negotiating an agreement among the defendant, the prosecutor, and the court as to an appropriate plea and associated sentence in a give case. Plea bargaining circumvents the trial process and dramatically reduces the time required for resolution of a criminal case.

jury selection

the process whereby, according to law and precedent, members of a trial jury are chosen

conditional release

the release by executive decision of a prisoner from a federal or state correctional facility who has not served his or her full sentence and whose freedom is contingent on obeying specified rules of behavior.

pretrial release

the release of an accused person from custody, for all or part of the time before or during prosecution, on his or her promise to appear in court when required.

peremptory challenge

the right to challenge a potential juror without disclosing the reason for the challenge. Prosecutors and defense attorneys routinely use peremptory challenges to eliminate from juries individuals who, although they express no obvious bias, are thought to be capable of swaying the jury in an undesirable direction.

property bond

the setting of bail in the form of land, houses, stocks or other tangible property. In the event that the defendant absconds prior to trial, the bond becomes the property of the court.

reasonable doubt standard

the standard of proof necessary for conviction in criminal trials

adversarial system

the two-sided structure under which American criminal trial courts operate. The adversarial system pits the prosecution against the defense. In theory, justice is done when the most effective adversary is able to convince the judge or jury that his or her perspective on the case is the correct one.

scientific jury selection

the use of correlational techniques from the social sciences to gauge the likelihood that potential jurors will vote for conviction or for acquittal.