Below are the steps that take place once someone is arrested and booked for committing a felony or misdemeanor crime.

STEP 1:
Arrest and Booking

• Law enforcement officers have probable cause to believe that someone has committed a felony or misdemeanor crime. This means that a reasonable and prudent police officer would look at the same evidence, circumstances, and facts, and determine that the suspect has committed the crime.

• Police arrest the suspect. Once they make the arrest, they can transport this person to police headquarters or send them straight to county jail to be booked for allegedly committing the crime. During the booking process, the arresting officer submits a report to the county jail and the Sheriff takes the suspect into custody and incarcerates them (puts them in jail) until the suspect is released on his own recognizance or a bail fee is paid.

STEP 2:
Screening

• The officer who made the arrest gives his report to the City Attorney (for misdemeanor arrests in Los Angeles and other California cities and townships) or the District Attorney (for felony cases, and, in some cities, towns and counties, also for misdemeanors). The report will include recommendations on whether or not to file against the suspect. The City Attorney and the District Attorney are the prosecutors who decide whether or not to file charges against a person suspected of committing a crime. It is up to the prosecutor to determine what charges—if any—will be filed against the suspect. It is the prosecutor's sworn duty to file charges only if he or she conscientiously and honestly believes that there is enough evidence to prove that the suspect is guilty of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

STEP 3:
Arraignment

• Once the prosecutor determines that there is enough evidence of guilt against the suspect to convict them, he must go to court to file a criminal complaint. The complaint will state the criminal offenses with which the suspect (now, the defendant) will be charged.

• The court will ask for the defendant's plea, and the defendant's attorney will enter a plea of not guilty on the defendant's behalf, except in rare cases where pleading guilty at arraignment would be advantageous to the defendant.

If the defendant is in police custody, it is up to the court to decide whether the designated bail amount is appropriate for the charge or charges. The defendant's criminal defense attorney will ask the court to either decrease the bail to the lowest amount possible or release the suspect without bail on their own recognizance or under court supervision. Once the bail issue has been decided, the court will set dates for the suspect's readiness conference and a preliminary hearing if the defendant has been charged with a felony offense.

STEP 4:
Readiness Conference/Settlement Conference

The defense attorney, the judge, and the prosecutor meet in the judge's office or some other conference room in the court to discuss the facts of the criminal case. At the readiness conference, the prosecutor will usually offer to resolve the case with a plea bargain which essentially a contract between the prosecution and defense in which each side offers something of value to the other to resolve the case before trial. Typically, prosecutors will offer lesser offenses or punishment to induce the defendant to plead guilty. Frequently, the judge will offer additional promises of leniency to the defendant to resolve the case by plea bargain. If the defendant has a strong defense, as well as a good chance of winning a not guilty verdict at trial, the defense attorney will likely advise the defendant to turn down a plea bargain. If, however, there is strong evidence against the suspect that could very likely lead to a guilty verdict, the criminal defense lawyer may advise the defendant to accept the plea bargain if it offers a genuine compromise with significant benefits to the defendant such as no custody, probation and, in felony cases, an opportunity to get the felony reduced to a misdemeanor and expunged from the defendant's record after a certain period of probation has passed.

If the defendant pleads guilty and accepts the plea bargain, the court will set a date for ruling on what kind of sentence the defendant will receive. The defendant can expect to receive a sentence that was promised in the plea bargain and by the judge. If the case is a misdemeanor and the suspect turns down the plea bargain, the case will go directly to trial. If the defendant in a felony case rejects the plea bargain, the case will proceed to the preliminary hearing.

If you have been arrested and charged with a felony or misdemeanor crime, it is important that you hire a criminal defense attorney who knows how to accurately evaluate the evidence in the prosecution's case and prepare a WINNING DEFENSE STRATEGY that offers you the best legal defense possible.

STEP 5:
Preliminary Hearing

In a felony case where a defendant has rejected a plea bargain, a judge holds a preliminary hearing to decide whether there is sufficient evidence for the accused to stand trial.

During the preliminary hearing, the defendant's criminal defense attorney can evaluate the evidence presented by prosecution and cross-examine the witnesses for the prosecution. In some cases, the defense will put on its own witnesses, including the defendant, to try to have one or all the charges dismissed. Even if the court denies the defense motion to dismiss the charges, the defendant has shown that he or she has a very strong defense which can persuade the prosecution to dismiss the case or offer a better plea bargain. Another benefit from presenting a strong defense at the preliminary hearing is that the criminal defense attorney gets a chance to prepare a much stronger defense strategy at trial. Unlike in a jury trial, where the standard is evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard for a preliminary hearing is whether the evidence has shown that is more likely than not that the defendant committed the charged crimes. This is a much lower standard of proof, and therefore, in most cases, the judge rules that there is at least enough evidence to require the defendant to stand trial.

STEP 6:
The Second Arraignment

The court holds a second arraignment where the defendant again will enter a not guilty plea. Court dates for a second readiness conference and a jury trial are set at the second arraignment in a felony case.

STEP 7:
The Second Readiness Conference

At the second readiness conference, the prosecutor, the judge, and the defense attorney once again meet to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the prosecution's case against the defendant. The prosecutor and the judge will again offer a plea bargain and sentencing benefits to persuade the defendant to resolve the case by plea bargain.

Having had time to conduct a more intensive investigation of witnesses and a chance to cross-examine prosecution witnesses at the preliminary hearing, the defense lawyer is now in a truly good position to determine whether or not he has a strategic advantage as the case heads towards trial. The prosecutor can evaluate its own position and decide whether to dismiss the charges or offer the defense a better plea bargain. The judge can also offer additional incentives for the defense to consider accepting the plea bargain. For example, the judge can offer to grant the defendant probation and no jail time to persuade the defendant to plead guilty.

There are many different kinds of plea bargains that contain obvious benefits for the defendant; however, your criminal defense lawyer should be prepared to advise you to reject the plea bargain and go to trial with a WINNING TRIAL STRATEGY If your attorney thinks the prosecution's case is weak and the defense case is strong. If the verdict could go either way, a good criminal defense attorney will accordingly advise his client that the evidence in not convincingly strong for either the defense or the prosecution. Your attorney should advise you to make up your own mind after carefully explaining the attorney's trial defense strategy and the potential consequences both of winning and losing. At all times, your criminal defense attorney must be completely honest with you and always act as your advocate while advising you of the potential advantages and disadvantages of going to trial.

STEP 8:
Jury Trial

If you have decided to defend the charges at trial, as your criminal defense trial lawyer, I will apply the skills and knowledge of my many years of experience as a trial lawyer to prepare a WINNING TRIAL DEFENSE STRATEGY for your trial. The following events take place at trial:

• In Limine Motions:  Motions are argued in front of the judge who will preside over your trial. The motions address the admissibility of evidence that the defense and prosecution are trying to exclude or admit in the trial. For instance, if the defense wants to present an expert on child abuse in a child sexual abuse case, the prosecution may bring a motion to challenge the expert's credentials and qualifications to testify as an expert. This is but one of many motions—called "in limine" motions—that may be brought at the beginning of a criminal jury trial.

• Voir Dire:  Jury selection starts. Jury selection is also called "Voir Dire." Both sides are allowed to challenge ten of the jury choices without needing to provide justification. They are allowed to make as many challenges as they would like based on reasons of bias and prejudice. Depending on the seriousness of the case, jury selection and motions can last a day or up to several weeks. Picking a jury can often dictate the outcome of a trial. Your criminal defense lawyer must have a lot of experience selecting juries, because you want the jury that will be most sympathetic to your position. Jury selection is an art and involves much intuition, careful analysis and patient listening. Your lawyer must ask the right questions that will subtly expose bias and prejudice and enable your lawyer to exclude those jurors who will not be fair.

• The Prosecution's Case:  The prosecutor puts witnesses on the stand and introduces any evidence, such as lab results, photos, knives, guns, and other weapons in an effort to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

• Defendant's Cross Examination:  Your criminal defense attorney cross-examines each prosecution witness and tries to show inconsistencies in their testimony, demonstrate bias, or prove a witness has reason to lie about what happened. A good criminal defense lawyer should be very well prepared for cross-examination. By this time, he will have learned as much as possible about the prosecution witnesses' criminal records and relationship to the defendant. Armed with this knowledge, your defense attorney should be able to seriously damage the credibility of the prosecution witnesses' testimony. In so doing, the prosecution's case is greatly weakened.
• The Defense Case:  The defense attorney puts witnesses (including expert witnesses) on the stand and introduces other evidence, such as lab results, pictures, charts, diagrams and maps. Your attorney has prepared a WINNING DEFENSE STRATEGY that is designed to dismantle the prosecution's evidence and bolster evidence presented by the defense.

• Prosecutor's Cross Examination:  The prosecution cross-examines each defense witness and tries to ruin the credibility of the defense's case. However, the damage a good criminal defense attorney inflicts on the credibility of prosecution witnesses is far more important to the outcome of the trial than the damage a prosecutor inflicts on the credibility of defense witnesses, because, remember, the burden of proof is always on the prosecution. If your defense attorney slices and dices the prosecution witnesses, the prosecution's case will fall to pieces.

• Closing Arguments:  The prosecution and the defense. The key to winning the jury's favor and decision is to focus on the burden of proof and show how your defense strategy revealed the flaws in the prosecution's evidence, how badly the defense damaged the credibility of crucial prosecution witnesses and, ultimately, that the prosecution has failed to meet its burden of proving your guilt of the charged crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. Getting juries to follow the law and apply the rules regarding the burden of proof requires an experienced and skillful criminal trial lawyer who has established rapport with the jury from the very beginning of your trial. That's why it's so crucial that you pick the right criminal defense lawyer to represent you. Your lawyer must be a priest, social worker, comedian, philosopher and big game hunter all rolled into one. Always make sure you speak with an attorney during a free legal consultation. All too often, unsuspecting clients, who are anxious and fearful, allow themselves to be sucked into a big contract by a slick and smooth talking man dressed in a suit who is not a lawyer at all, but really only a "case manager." Stay away from law firms who give you a free consultation with a snake oil salesman.

• Jury Deliberation: 

• The verdict is announced.

If the jury reaches a not guilty verdict, the accused is set free. If a jury reaches a guilty verdict, the judge sets another court date to issue sentencing.

If a jury does not return a verdict, then this is called a "hung jury." In this instance, the case is dismissed and the prosecution will request a date to begin a new trial and defense will ask the judge to dismiss the charges in the interest of justice.

STEP 9:
Sentencing

Your attorney will have to draft a Statement in Mitigation. To do so, he will have to request letters from clergy, employers, family members, friends, and others who know you well and have them vouch for your character. Your attorney may also ask you to undergo an evaluation by a psychologist who can then vouch for the fact that you do not pose a danger to yourself or society or that you can successfully overcome any addictions once you undergo treatment.

Your attorney will then get you ready to meet with a probation officer. How you present yourself to your probation officer is very important because it can determine the kind of recommendation that they will give for your sentencing.

Whether you are found guilty during jury trial or you plead guilty after accepting a plea bargain, you must have a criminal defense attorney who can put together a solid argument for probation under the most lenient possible circumstances.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN ARRESTED ANYWHERE IN LOS ANGELES, LONG BEACH OR ANY OTHER AREA OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, CONTACT MR. BRODSKY THE CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER WITH A WINNING ATTITUDE. CONTACT MR. BRODSKY RIGHT AWAY TO SET UP A FREE CONSULTATION ABOUT HOW MR. BRODSKY WILL CREATE A WINNING DEFENSE STRATEGY FOR YOUR CASE! CALL ONE OF THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS TO SET UP A FREE CONSULTATION AT ONE OF MR. BRODSKY'S CONVENIENT OFFICES IN LOS ANGELES AND LONG BEACH. CALL TOLL FREE AT 1-800-988-8409 OR CONTACT US ONLINE. CALL MR. BRODSKY, TODAY, SO HE CAN IMMEDIATELY PUT A WINNING DEFENSE STRATEGY TO WORK FOR YOU!!