How Does One Determine Whether Or Not They Have Standing To Appear In Criminal Court?
Before the court even considers the case merit, the constitution demands that the plaintiff illustrate standing. This according to article III implies the plaintiff needs to demonstrate that the actions of the defendant caused or threatened to cause concrete harm to the plaintiff. Therefore, one determines whether or not they have the standing to appear in criminal court based on whether they were threatened or have actual or tangible injuries caused by the accused action. The injuries must be factual, particularized, imminent, and concrete and not hypothetical or conjectural. They should also be able to show that the injury is probable to be redressed through a favorable decision (Jacobs, 2007).
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How the Court Administer Pretrial Management Procedure
Once an offense is committed and the police through their investigation ascertain that the offense is cognizable based on evidence collected and witnesses’ accounts, the offender is arrested and put on Criminal Trial. However, before the trial, various pre-trial case management steps precede the trials. The judge in the lower court read through the charges and determine the facts on the probable cause, and the defendant’s date for the first court appearance is set. An appearance notice is sent to the defendant informing them that they must appear in court to answer for criminal charges. In the first appearance, the judge reads the charges in the complaint and explains the defendant’s legal right to have counsel at the government’s expense if they cannot afford one (Law.cornell.edu, n.d.).
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This is a constitutional right based on the 16th amendment. In case the defendant cannot afford counsel, he or she is assigned a qualified government counsel. The case in a pre-trial stage can also enter into pretrial motions. The motions can be founded on different agendas including a motion to dismiss. In the motion to dismiss, the defense might raise a motion requesting the magistrate to make a legal ruling dismissing the case based on a lack of sufficient evidence of a crime. The motion focus on demonstrating that prove provided is not enough to constitute a crime. This can result in dismissal of the case, or more evidence may be given to strengthening the case. The outcome depends on the argument from both sides (Jacobs, 2007).
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Why are these Procedures needed for the Justice Administration?
The procedures are highly important as they ensure that due process is observed as required by the law, ensuring fair, credible and viable trials. This also ensures that the defender cannot challenge the court verdict based on a lack of due process as required by the law. The procedures are also followed to reduce the chances of investing the federal court time and resources in a case without legal redress. The pretrial stage ensures the case is credible enough for Criminal Trial, reducing the chances of investing in cases that are not legally founded and that are more probable to result in a wastage of time. Such cases are dismissed early enough. The agreement between the defense and the prosecutor on the case procedure also helps in saving time and reducing unnecessarily prolonged trials (Jacobs, 2007).
Procedural Steps in a Criminal Trial
The Criminal Trial steps include the opening statements presented by the prosecutor and the defense side based on the case. The prosecutor gives facts of the cases, taking the jury through the offender’s crimes and the laws broken, injuries caused among other things. The defense will also offer the jury its side of facts interpretation, try to rebut the key evidence from the prosecutor, and present its defense for the charged crime. Then there is a direct examination where a counsel presents their witnesses and questions them to reinforce their claim or to supplement the evidence they presented supported by the witness testimony. Cross-examination is where a counsel questions witnesses presented by another counsel. For instance, a defense lawyer questioning a witness presented by the prosecutor. The main aim of cross-examination is to water down the witness testimony (Justive.gov, 2022).
Jury instructions are instructions given by the judge regarding the law that they should use when offering deliberation in a certain criminal case. The jury also gets instructions on how to apply the law and the person with the burden of proof in the case. Jury deliberation involves private discussion of the case and case findings to determine the most powerful argument that they should agree on between the prosecutor and the defense as guided by the law and judge’s instructions. Rendering a verdict is offering the final decision of the jury regarding a case. The verdict, in this case, is an agreed decision among juries that is returned to the court in a written format. Sentencing involves giving a final decision on the punishment to be endured by the offender for taking part in the crime. Sentencing is done after consideration of all the facts of the case, and the jury’s deliberation (Justive.gov, 2022).
Possible Appellate Procedures in Place for a Criminal Defendant
In case the defendant is not satisfied with the final verdict, he or she can appeal the case. The appeal procedure includes hiring an appellate lawyer, and filing the appeal notice, this is followed by preparing the appeal records, then researching and developing the appeal, and finally offering oral arguments. An appeal is relevant when one needs to safeguard the defender from prejudicial legal error in the process resulting in conviction and over verdict unsupported by enough evidence. An appeal can also be authoritatively done to refine and develop the procedural and substantive criminal law doctrines. An appeal should be founded on a substantial argument likely to alter the final results, failure to which is not worth it (Justive.gov, 2022).
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