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Irvine Arrest Information
If you are arrested and charged with a crime within the City of Irvine, the Irvine Police Department (www.irvinepd.org) must bring you before a judge at the Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach, (www.occourts.org/geninfo/about/ada/hjcada.asp), within 48 hours unless that date falls on a weekend or holiday or unless you have been released from custody (if you have been released, the police will notify you of your next court appearance.) You have the right to see an attorney before that date, and to have time to discuss your case with the attorney before your case is called. At that first appearance, the court asks the defendant to plead guilty or not guilty, sets the next court date (usually for the preliminary hearing if it's a felony case) can hear arguments from counsel about whether to raise or lower the bail set by police, and will read the formal charges made against the defendant.
 After the initial appearance, your attorney starts preparing for the preliminary hearing (in felony cases), talks to witnesses, prepares applicable legal motions and seeks discovery and evidence from the prosecutor. In many cases, a private investigator is retained to help gather evidence and statements from people who may testify later at a trial or other hearing. If the case is a felony, a preliminary hearing will be held to determine if there is enough direct evidence (testimony under oath by witnesses with personal information about the alleged crime) to warrant a trial.
The witnesses are subject to cross-examination, and the defendant is allowed to put on his or her own witnesses and even to testify themselves (testimony by a defendant at a preliminary hearing, however, is rarely a good idea.) At a preliminary hearing, a judge needs only to find that there is sufficient cause to believe that the defendant is guilty in order to hold the defendant to stand trial on the complaint. This standard of proof is far lower than proof ultimately required at trial (that is, proof beyond a reasonable doubt.) Because of this much lower standard, courts rarely dismiss cases at a preliminary hearing.
However, even if the judge rules against you, the preliminary hearing is critically important because your accusers must go under oath to testify against you. This locks them into their version of the events, and if they change their testimony at a later trial, your attorney can remind them of what they said earlier under oath at the preliminary hearing and ask them in front of the jury "if they are lying now or were lying then!!"
After the preliminary hearing, the court sets a potential trial date. In the meantime, the defense attorney gathers evidence with the help of private investigators, makes motions for dismissal or reduced charges and generally develops trial strategy. If the case is not dismissed and if plea negotiations are unsuccessful, then a trial occurs.
Robert Miller and Associates - A Law Corporation
Welcome to our Irvine law firm! Miller and Associates is a firm of Criminal Defense lawyers devoted to defending cases in Orange County. We handle Orange County Criminal Defense matters from our offices in Irvine (Newport Beach)and Santa Ana, and serve clients in the courts in Orange County, including the North Justice Center, Fullerton, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach, West Justice Center, Westminster, and the South Justice Center, Laguna Niguel. |
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