Court Procedures 2 - Assignment Example

Court Procedures 2 Affiliation: Discuss the process of bail. Posting of bail is a traditional right to freedom which ensures that the arrested person’s defense is still not hampered. Bail is carried out to secure the arrested person and ensure that he or she will still appear in court to be proven guilty or innocent but without having them stay in jail until then. Bail has a process with the first step being to determine whether the arrested person qualifies for bail or not defending on the arrest charges. If bail is granted, the next step is to set the bail amount or determine the form of bail that will be produced which can be cash or property. The bail is then secured until the person appears in court. Refusing to attend court hearings on the set date which is commonly referred to as “bail jumping” leads to the bail being forfeited to official account. Discuss the functions and purposes of a preliminary hearing. Preliminary hearing is the first step once an arrested person is arraigned in court after being granted or denied bail. It is not the main hearing and hence the process is short. It is at this point that the magistrate hears the facts of the case and the counterarguments briefly and decides whether there is a case to follow or not. A preliminary hearing is not held before superior judges since it is a minor process. During the preliminary, the prosecutor presents evidence against the accused which the magistrate then determines whether they are enough to hold a case or not. If the evidence is not enough, the case is dismissed if it is enough, then the trial dates are set. In cases where the defendant pleads guilty before the magistrate, then the case automatically goes into trial for sentencing. Discuss the duties of a grand jury. A grand jury consists of several community members gathered together to listen to the facts and evidence of certain selected criminal cases and make their ruling of whether these facts and the evidence are enough to hold the person to stand for trial. Since the grand jury consists of a cross section of community members, the jury’s ruling is considered effective and invaluable. The grand jury’s input based purely on the evidence and the facts of the case presented is considered as fair and hence necessary to an extent of being written in the constitution of US under the Fifth Amendment. Other than hearing evidence that is presented by the prosecutor, the grand jury also subpoenas documents as well as witnesses in a bid to seek its own evidence as part of their duties if they are unsatisfied with the evidence presented by the prosecutor. Their other duty is to grant immunity to the witnesses from being prosecuted due the evidence presented in exchange for crucial information. What you thought was the most important point in each chapter and why. The most important point in chapter 4 is about the procedures for bail especially about granting or denying bail as well as “bail jumping.” These are important because the public does not know the procedures and most act on ignorance leading to negative consequences. In chapter 5, the most important point is preliminary hearing and what this court proceeding entails. It is important especially to know about the pleading at this point and the direction it can make the whole trial head. Many arrested people are erroneously directed by their legal counsel and end up not having a hearing at all as they pleaded guilty at the preliminary hearing leading to sentencing trial almost immediately. Lastly, chapter 7 offers an insight into issues about the other types of trials namely bench trial, public trial and jury trial. The most important is the public trial to avoid cases such as that of Presley v. Georgia discussed below. Discuss one United States Supreme Court decision referenced in each individual chapter Chapter four has the case of DA’s Office v. Osborne, 129 S. Ct. 2308 (U. S. 2009) where a state prisoner who was convicted for assault, kidnapping and sexual assault of a prostitute filed an action demanding the DA’s office to release the evidence against him in order for him to carry out DNA and confirm the evidence produced. This action was filed under 42 U. S. C. S. The District Court together with the Court of Appeal affirmed this request but the DA’s office decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court before meeting the court’s requests of releasing the evidence into the custody of a convicted felon. The Supreme Court ruled that the two courts above had erred in their decisions to affirm the request by the prisoner because the matter needed DNA evidence and this was a decision to be made by the Congress and state legislators. Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S. Ct. 1473 (U. S. 2010) presented in chapter five was about deportation of a lawful permanent resident who was caught transporting marijuana and was erroneously advised by his counsel. His counsel told him to plead guilty and this plea would have no effect on his immigration status. The court of Appeal denied him relief of deportation based on the claim of erroneous advice but the Supreme Court after reviewing all the facts of the case reversed this decision and remanded the case to continue with further proceedings. This ruling was provided despite the fact that the crime of dealing drugs under 8 U.S.C.S 1227 (a) (2) (B) (i) led to automatic deportation. The case of Presley v. Georgia, 130 S. Ct. 721 (U. S 2010) presented in chapter seven was that of a defendant convicted with the offense of trafficking cocaine but was denied the right to a public hearing. He appealed the case using the writ of certiorari indicating that his Sixth Amendment right to a public hearing was violated. No public was allowed inside the courtroom during the trial other than the jurors and the defendant insists that this affected a fair hearing of his case. The ruling provided by the Supreme Court after reviewing the certiorari was that the defendant was right he had a right to public hearing under the Sixth Amendment. However, this right to public trial can be invoked under the First Amendment. Furthermore, the court tries to maintain balance between the interests of the state and that of the defendant and the interest that overrides is taken which in this case was to close the trial from public attendance (Robertson and Wallace, 2012). References Robertson, C. and Wallace, H. (2012). Procedures in the Justice System. New York: Pearson Education. Read More