After all of the evidence is presented, the grand jury decides if they have probable cause to indict.Īt a grand jury hearing, you may be requested to testify, but you can use your 5th amendment right to not make a statement. In a grand jury hearing, witnesses can be questioned that are brought before them, and require more evidence or witnesses. All capital crimes and those for which the death penalty is a punishment must be presented by indictment. An indictment requires the state prosecutor to go in front of a grand jury and present evidence of your alleged crime and ask the grand jury to bring charges against you. Most prosecutors will leave it to the grand jury on whether or not to charge you with a felony. Indictments in most states are obtained if you have allegedly committed a felony. If you decide to plead not guilty, another court date will be set and the case will go forward to trial. Or, your attorney may file a plea in writing on your behalf. Once you have been charged, you are next arraigned at a hearing before the court. If charges are not filed in a proper manner, the prosecutor cannot file charges and the case will be dismissed. If you are arrested on a felony charge, the state prosecutor has more time to file charges in some states, this could be 30 days. Some states have set this timeframe at three days. If you were arrested on a misdemeanor offense, the state prosecutor must charge you within a certain period of time after the arrest. Criminal charges may be changed at a later time by the prosecutor or grand jury in some criminal cases. This must occur within a reasonable period of time after the arrest. There will be stated the charges against you. If you have been arrested on a warrant, the police officer must provide a copy of the warrant. If you were placed under arrest before the warrant was issued, the attorney general’s office in your state will decide if you should be charged based upon the evidence that is presented in the charging affidavit from the arresting officer. Once you have a formal charge against you, you can be arrested on a bench warrant if you were not arrested yet. You can be charged with either a misdemeanor or a felony by the prosecutor but a felony charge more often comes from a grand jury indictment. ChargedĪ criminal charge is an official allegation that you commited one or more crimes. What do they mean and what are the differences? Below is more information. If you have been accused of a crime, you may have heard the terms ‘indicted’ and ‘charged’.
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