As such, the DA may not be prosecuting some cases that perhaps could be prosecuted if additional time were provided in order to expand the investigation, develop the case and collect additional evidence and information.
G.S. 7A-61 requires the district attorney to do the following: prosecute in a timely manner all criminal actions and infractions requiring prosecution in the superior and district courts of the districtattorney’s prosecutorial district; advise the officers of justice in the districtattorney’s district;
Suppose, for example, that a district attorney announces plans to no longer prosecute cases involving possession of marijuana of one-half ounce or less or possession of marijuana drug paraphernalia.
Why Does the District Attorney Reject Cases? Even if a person is arrested, he might not be charged with a crime. This is because each decision – the decision to arrest and the decision to file charges – is made by a different authority. Police arrest someone when they believe that he has committed a crime.
Responsibility for a case shifts to the prosecutor upon a suspect's arrest. Prosecutors decide whether to plea bargain a case.
Prosecutors may decline to press charges because they think it unlikely that a conviction will result. No matter what the prosecutor's personal feelings about the case, the prosecutor needs legally admissible evidence sufficient to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Investigation.Charging.Initial Hearing/Arraignment.Discovery.Plea Bargaining.Preliminary Hearing.Pre-Trial Motions.Trial.More items...
Under the judicial systems of the U.S., once a decision is approved to arrest a suspect, or bind him over for trial, either by a prosecutor issuing an information, a grand jury issuing a true bill or indictment, or a judge issuing an arrest warrant, the suspect can then be properly called a defendant, or the accused.
The decision to charge any person with an offence is usually taken by the CPS. If the CPS decides there is sufficient evidence to charge you with an offence then you will be taken before a custody sergeant who will read out the alleged offence to you.
After charges are filed, prosecutors and sometimes courts may dismiss such charges for some of the same reasons that charges are dropped before being filed. Evidence may be poor, witnesses may be unavailable or illegal tactics may have been used to gather evidence or make arrests.
The five (5) basic steps of a criminal proceeding are the:Arrest.Preliminary hearing.Grand jury investigation.Arraignment in Criminal Court.Trial by jury.
Stage 1 – service of prosecution case (50/70 days after sending depending upon whether defendant in custody) Stage 2 – defence response (28 days after Stage 1 – includes Defence Statement) Stage 3 – prosecution response to DS and other defence items (14-28 days after Stage 2)
During an Arraignment, the accused, now called the defendant, is read the charges against him or her and advised of his or her rights. The defendant also enters a plea of guilty or not guilty.
Grand juries decide whether there is enough evidence to warrant a trial. Grand juries meet in secret proceedings. Petit juries serve during public trials.
"Misprision of felony" is a crime that occurs when someone knows a felony has been committed but fails to inform the authorities about it. The crime originated in English common law and required that citizens report crimes or face criminal prosecution.
In general, every crime involves three elements: first, the act or conduct (“actus reus”); second, the individual's mental state at the time of the act (“mens rea”); and third, the causation between the act and the effect (typically either "proximate causation" or "but-for causation").
As a result, prosecutable cases are possibly being discharged by the DA because they do not meet this high standard of reasonable doubt . In addition, given that the Police Department is making arrests based on the probable cause standard, and the DA is prosecuting such cases based on a much higher standard, it is inevitable that conflicts should occur between the Police Department and the District Attorney as a result of the DA"s decision not to proceed further with a case.
At the preliminary hearing, a judge determines whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to go to trial.
California law establishes standards which must be met when making an arrest. Section 836 of Title 3, Chapter 5 ("Making of Arrest") of the California Penal Code (PC) states that a peace officer may make an arrest in obedience to a warrant, or may, without a warrant, arrest a person: • Whenever he/she has reasonable cause to believe ...
Nevertheless, case law pursuant to PC Title 3, Chapter 7, Section 860 (Examination of Case and Discharge of Defendant) states that the evidence produced at a preliminary hearing need not establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but is sufficient if it establishes reasonable and probable cause.
Section 1.4 The DA's Standard for Charging Cases. Pursuant to California Penal Code Section 836, peace officers are authorized to make an arrest based on probable cause. As such, the Police must believe that there is more evidence for than against the prospect that the person sought is guilty of a crime, yet reserving some possibility for doubt. [1]
As described in the introduction to Section 1, this process, which is called a rebooking, involves corroborating the information contained in the arresting Police Officer"s incident report through evidence analysis and interviews with victims, suspects, witnesses and the arresting Police Officer. The Inspector then presents the case to the District Attorney, who must decide what formal charges, if any, to file against the suspect for prosecution. If the DA decides to press charges against the suspect, the suspect is then arraigned and a preliminary hearing is held in Municipal Court. At the preliminary hearing, a judge determines whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to go to trial.
Case law pursuant to PC Section 836 further states that probable cause does not require evidence to convict but only to show that the person should stand trial.
A deputy DA, or assistant DA, does much of the legwork on cases: reviewing the evidence, working with law enforcement officers who made the arrest, appearing at court hearings to push for convictions, or offering plea deals.
Otherwise, that person sits in jail until the court decides his or her fate. Through it all, the DA’s office – which files more than 40,000 cases a year in San Diego County – plays quarterback for the state, and makes decisions on how the case will play out.
And in 2005, Dumanis helped push for Senate Bill 618, which became law in January 2006 and aimed to better allocate resources to help prisoners re-enter the community.
Investigators from the DA’s office can also further the case by meeting with victims or people involved in the alleged crimes. If someone has an alibi, for example, those investigators would help verify – or disprove – the story.
A plea deal is one of the most effective tools DAs have at their disposal. The idea is pretty simple: in order to avoid a lengthy or costly trial – and especially if there’s a chance that evidence wouldn’t support a conviction – the DA could offer the defendant a lighter sentence if he or she pleads guilty to a crime.
Here’s an abbreviated version of what the DA actually does. Once police arrest someone – or a warrant is issued for someone’s arrest – the DA ’s office reviews the facts of the case and determines whether there’s enough evidence to move forward with prosecution.
If a judge allows, and if the person can afford it, they can post bond, which is basically a promise to pay if they don’t show for future court hearings. A judge can also trust that person that he or she will return, and let him or her out until the next court date.
The District Attorney is a lawyer who represents the state in a criminal trial; they do not personally investigate crimes, but instead use the police and other related investigators to do so. This answer is not a substitute for professional legal advice. Th…. (more)
The prosecuting attorney reviews the evidence to determine if there is sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute the person. If additional evidence is needed, the PA may send it back to the police for more work, or may assign its own investigator. Difficult cases always have problems with the evidence.
The police then take the evidence they have collected to the PA (prosecuting attorney) for review. The prosecuting attorney reviews the evidence to determine if there is sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute the person. If additional evidence is needed, the PA may send it back to the police for more work, or may assign its own investigator.
Somebody assaulted you while you were drunk. When you go to the police, they refuse to investigate your case. There are lots of reasons police won't pursue a case. Maybe the value of your loss is too little. Maybe after an initial look, there is just no evidence to warrant further work.
Difficult cases always have problems with the evidence. So, the PA works with the police to resolve the problems. This could include collecting additional evidence and interviewing additional witnesses. The prosecuting attorney often has her/his own independent investigator who works with the police to resolve the issues.
E.g., at the scene of the murder, officers found six shell cases and recovered four bullets.
2. Contact the Press. Another way to put pressure on the police is to go to the media.
If you've ever worked with victims of violence against women you're no doubt already familiar with the many fears and anxieties that make some women reluctant to push the case forward. Naturally, it's important to explain to her that ultimately, it's the district attorney, and the district attorney alone, who makes the decision of whether or not to file charges and pursue prosecution. Nonetheless, victim input can significantly influence these decisions. In fact, all too often, as you've probably also experienced, too many district attorneys will grasp at the first possible excuse to keep from working the case. So when you're client is uncertain about going forward with prosecution, it's critical to have a heart to heart discussion with your client, focusing on that issue alone.
There shouldn't be any more than a 24 hour delay in the transition, since police reports are generally sent daily to the DA by a special courier. Furthermore, cases are usually logged into the DA computer as soon as they arrive at the DA's office. Unfortunately, there are some police who will tell you the case has been sent to the DA when it's simply not true. Some do this as a way of brushing you off.
If the victim decides she wants to make the calls, be sure and help her put together her message. Rambling, emotional messages from victims can unfortunately have the opposite effect of souring the attorney to the case.
The computer data bases they're consulting usually contain extensive information on the case, the suspect, and related court proceedings, including such information as detailed minutes of the last court hearing, details of plea agreements, probation conditions, and much more.
If this arraignment doesn't happen within 48 hours of arrest, then the jail must set the suspect free. This means that if the suspect is in custody, the DA must review the police report and decide which, if any, charges to file well within the 48 hour period, or the suspect will be set free.
This is because any suspect who is in custody has a right to appear before a judge and be informed of the charges filed against him within 48 hours (in California) (not counting days when the courts are closed). (The time frame may vary slightly in other states.)
Sometimes weeks go by without communication only because women aren't quite sure how it's all supposed to work.
Because district attorneys decide whether or not to charge someone, district attorneys have the ability to define what an appropriate arrest is and how police should behave. They also decide when an arrest leads to criminal charges.
District attorneys are the top law enforcement officials in each county. Even though the police and sheriffs are organized independently from the DA’s office, they work very closely to respond to alleged crimes. And the police can’t lock anybody into the criminal justice system without the help of a prosecutor. That means DAs can have a lot of influence on and oversight of the police.
When someone complains about excessive use of force or police misconduct, the district attorney’s office decides whether to ignore that complaint or investigate it as a crime. The district attorney also decides whether charges are brought against an officer.
When district attorneys pursue unfounded or inappropriate charges, they encourage the continuation of police misconduct and the abuse of police power. When district attorneys charge people who have been victims of police abuse, profiling or misconduct, prosecutors send a message to law enforcement that this kind of conduct is acceptable. But when district attorneys refuse to make pursue those charges, they send a clear message to police that their office will not stand behind abusive or discriminatory arrests.
When a defendant accepts the terms of the sentence proposed by the DA, they enter a guilty plea which the judge will typically accept. The DA has immense power in influencing an individual’s decision to enter into a plea deal or to take their case to trial.
District attorneys have the power to choose which charges are filed against an individual accused of a crime. When the police arrest someone, the district attorney’s office has the power to prosecute those cases, divert the accused to a program or drug treatment, or dismiss the case altogether.
Pretrial detention causes major disruptions for the detained individual and their families and increases the likelihood that the individual held will commit a future crime.
While police are usually the ones seizing property because of a suspected connection to crime, it is the district attorney's office that decides whether to file a petition in court seeking forfeiture of the property. DAs decide what to forfeit (from houses and cars to very small amounts of cash), from whom, and under what circumstances.
District attorneys have the prosecutorial discretion to not pursue mandatory minimum sentencing.
The district attorney has the power to offer a sentence to the individual charged with a crime.
A number of Supreme Court decisions have reaffirmed the district attorney’s obligation to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense during discovery. Frequent violations of these laws, as well as a regular lack of transparency in DA officers, reinforce the need for their existence.
And when a person is arrested and taken to jail, prosecutors must decide whether charges are warranted within 48 hours of the arrest, excluding weekends and holidays. [i] This means that if a person is arrested and taken into custody on Monday, prosecutors must file charges against him by Wednesday.
If prosecutors decline to file charges within the 48-hour time frame, then the person will be released from jail. Given their ethical duty and this small window of time, prosecutors sometimes reject cases, asking police to conduct further investigation before they agree to formally file charges.
This is because each decision – the decision to arrest and the decision to file charges – is made by a different authority. Police arrest someone when they believe that he has committed a crime.
Police arrest someone when they believe that he has committed a crime. But only the District Attorney’s Office can file charges against someone. Prosecutors have a duty to only file charges when they believe that the evidence is strong enough to secure a unanimous guilty verdict from a jury (that is, 12 random people from the community).
But having your case rejected and being released from jail doesn’t mean that your case is closed. This is because, depending on the crime, prosecutors may have one or several years to ultimately decide whether to file charges. This extended time frame is known as the statute of limitations, and it varies from crime to crime. [ii] So, even if a person is released after he is arrested, his case is never truly closed until the statute of limitations on his alleged crime expires.
The Prosecutor's Decision: Using the Police Report. Typically, prosecutors base their initial charging decisions on the documents sent to them by the arresting police officers (usually called police or arrest reports ).
Arrest and prosecution functions are separated primarily to protect citizens against the arbitrary exercise of police power. Police officers usually make arrests based only on whether they have good reason ( probable cause) to believe a crime has been committed. By contrast, prosecutors can file formal charges only if they believe that they can prove a suspect guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Not only do arrest reports often determine what charges prosecutors file, but they also may play a key role in how much bail is required, the outcome of preliminary hearings (where hearsay evidence is often admissible), the willingness of the prosecutor to plea bargain, and trial tactics (for instance, the police report can be used to discredit testimony of the police officer who prepared the report).
Their charging decisions are often, therefore, affected by public opinion or important support groups. For example, a prosecutor may file charges on every shoplifting case, no matter how weak, to curry favor with local store owners who want to get the word out that shoplifters will be prosecuted. For similar reasons, a prosecutor may pursue otherwise weak prostitution charges to avoid alienating powerful civic groups. Deputy or assistant prosecutors may feel that appearing tough will help their careers, either within the prosecutor's office or later if they want to become judges.
Prosecutors can file charges on all crimes for which the police arrested a suspect, can file charges that are more or less severe than the charges leveled by the police, or can decide not to file any charges at all. ( U.S. v. Batchelder, U.S. Sup. Ct. 1979.)
Arrest reports are almost always one-sided. They recite only what the police claim took place and may include only witness statements that support the police theory. While they are generally not admissible as evidence in a trial, arrest reports can have a major impact in criminal cases.
Experienced defense attorneys understand that prosecutors must sometimes be seen as taking a strong stand publicly, even though they may be willing to respond to weaknesses in individual cases at a later stage of the process. This is one of the reasons why practically every criminal defendant will benefit from the help of an experienced, local criminal defense attorney: Only those professionals know where the pressure points are and how to work around them (or with them).
District Attorney investigators are police officers who investigate frauds, official corruption, organized crime, and other criminal matters for the Investigation and Trial Divisions. Among the areas of responsibility are conducting in-house lineups; maintaining a NYSPIN Intelligence Computer Terminal for records checks; maintaining all electronic surveillance orders, recording and videotapes; and handling office security.
In CA, District Attorney Investigators are peace officers (not attorneys), that conduct investigations initiated by the DA's office (ie: political corruption) or follow-ups on cases that have already been filed by police agencies but don't have one of their investigators available afterword. In Los Angeles County, most of the DA investigators have transferred to that agency from the Sheriff's department or have retired from other local police agencies.
In TN they are Law enforcement officers, they have arrest powers and are gun toters. The dutys vary from district to district (read- what the DA wants them doing). Here it is a very "comfortable" job. They make good salaries. I work several judicial districts, some basically review case files and do trial prep- as in finding witnesses and tracking down lab reports and suplemental interviews. In other district,s they initiate investigations on a wide variety of crimes and work along with other state and local investigators. All in all, not a bad gig.
Turns out basic police work isn't so hard, you just have to leave the station.
It's not the will to win that matters...everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters.
In my experience they do a bit of everything. They can do actual detective work if the DA needs it for the case or they can simply be tasked with locating involved parties long after the case is closed.