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A Preliminary Hearing is
where a judge hears testimony or evidence against the person
being charged. The defendant may also present
testimony or evidence to support their case. The Judge
hearing the evidence will decide to do the following:
-
Continue the case on a later
date,
-
Bind the case over to a higher
court for trial (State or Superior Court),
-
Dismiss the Charges,
-
or set or deny bond.
If the Judge
determines that there is enough evidence to bind the case over to
the State Court (Misdemeanor), the defendant's case will be
forwarded to the Solicitor General's Office where an Investigator
and Prosecuting Attorney will be assigned. If the case is
bound over to the Superior Court (Felony), the defendant's case will
be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office where an Investigator
and Prosecuting Attorney will be assigned. When an inmate
makes bond, it usually takes approximately 10 business days before
the defendant's case is received by either of the two prosecutors.
After these 10 days have passed, any questions concerning a
defendant's case should be directed to the office that will handle
the prosecution of the defendant's case.
Whenever the
Solicitor or District Attorney decides to move forward with
prosecuting the case, a date for trial will be set. The
defendant and the defendant's attorney may decide to proceed with a
Bench Trial (this is where a judge decides guilt or innocence) or a
Jury Trial (where a jury decides guild or innocence). If the
defendant is found guilty, the sitting Judge could impose any of the
following:
-
A Probation Sentence (may include
jail time),
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A Suspended Sentence (Guilty, no
jail time),
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Time to serve in jail or a prison
sentence.
A not guilty
verdict or dismissal will result in the defendant being released if
there are no other jail sentences, open charges, or holds/detainers.
Whenever any court
order is handed down, a number of administrative procedures will
have to take place. Therefore, please keep in mind that
although a Judge may have ordered a defendant's release, it will
take some time for the inmate to be released. Some of these
administrative procedures are:
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preparation of the actual order
(sentence) by the defense/prosecuting attorney, or Judge,
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Judge must actually sign the
order,
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order must be filed with the
clerk of the court,
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the order must be delivered to
the Sheriff's Classification's Office.
Remember that in
the majority of cases, the Judge and prosecutor will complete their
entire calendar before performing the above procedures. This
means that although your relative or friend's case has been handled,
the paperwork will not be processed and delivered to the Sheriff's
Office until the entire calendar has been completed.
Once the Sheriff's
Office receives the court order, our internal administrative process
will be performed by the Classifications Section to include but not
be limited to:
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a review and interpretation of
all of the orders received on that day,
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enter court sentences on the
computer database,
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have the court sentence and
entire inmate file reviewed by a supervisor prior to release,
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a GCIC/NCIC Computer check for
additional outstanding warrants.
Over the course of
this process, the Classifications Office will be reviewing a
significant number of inmate files and related information.
Processing court sentences is an extremely complex and detailed
procedure and calls for complete accuracy. Therefore, patience
must be exercised by all involved parties to make the system work
for the community. All sentences which require that an inmate
be released is always given the highest priority, so again, please
be patient!
Whenever the
Classifications Office's review is completed, the files of those
inmates being released are forwarded to the Release Office for final
review and release. This completes the final layer of our
system of checks and balances prior to the release of an inmate.
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