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In the light of the case of Mr. Robert Crook who has admitted that he has committed a felony, I hereby give legal advice to the assailant based on the criminal laws on felonies. To start with, it is important to review the crime that Mr. Robert Crook has committed. Robert Crook is worried that he might be arrested for an armed robbery which he was involved in at a gas station recently. Mr. Crook is an addicted gambler who is jobless and owes very many people a lot of money. His desperation led him to acquire a BB gun which he used to raid a gas station located just outside his house. He claims that the attendant at the gas station managed to identify him since he had not put on a mask. The police officers were informed of the incident and they have started looking for him. They have even raided his apartment where they found his teenage nephew. The following is a detailed description of what will happen to Mr. Crook after he is should he be arrested for the crime that he committed.
To start with, if the police are already looking for him, it means that a complaint has been filed against him because this is usually the start of any felony case. This is the main accusation document and it is filed by the complaining witness and signed at the prosecutor’s office (Michel, 1995). After the filing of this document a warrant of arrest is issued. The warrant commands the person who has omitted the crime, legally known as the defendant to appear before the jury on a certain day. The time of appearance also indicated. There is another way where the defendant is arrested and arraigned before the jury using the warrant of arrest (Garner, 1997). This means that the warrant of arrest gives power to the law enforcement officers to arrest the criminal and bring him before the judges. This is why the policemen had raided the house of Mr. Crook because the arrest warrant had already commissioned them to do so. For the arrest warrant to be issued, there must be enough evidence that is incriminating the person in question, or there must be information stating that the person in question might help with investigations.
After the defendant is arrested, what follows is the initial appearance before the magistrate. This initial appearance is presided over by a magistrate judge and this is the session where the defendant is made aware of the charges that have been made against him and the highest possible penalties that could be imposed if at all he or she is found to have been on the wrong (Gerven, 2001). Their constitutional rights regarding the case are also stated during this session. It is also during this session where the defendant is asked to provide a lawyer or attorney for legal representation and if they cannot afford the attorney fee, a state attorney is appointed to offer the legal representation. Finally the magistrate makes a decision whether the defendant will be bonded or be kept in custody pending the next hearing.
After this, there is the preliminary hearing and in this session, the witnesses that are supposed to give evidence for or against the defendant are produced by the prosecutors. More evidence to establish the genesis of the crime and the nature of the crime is also brought before the court. If the evidence produced before the court is not sufficient enough to incriminate the defendant, then the magistrate is obligated by the law to terminate the lawsuit by dismissing the charges leveled against the defendant. In this case, the magistrate is not supposed to weight defenses from the assailant against the prosecutor’s evidence because comparative evidence is supposed to be analyzed or debated upon during the actual trial. (Noyes, 2007). If the evidence that the prosecutors have brought before the court is sufficient, the magistrates gives directions that the defendant be brought before the district court where they are supposed to plead guilty or not guilty for the charges that have been leveled against them. The magistrate’s signs a document called the commitment finding that indicates that there is enough evidence to try the defendant. The attorney that is leading the prosecutions then files a document known as the information and submits it at the district court (Lunney, 2003). The preliminary hearing and the grand hearing are almost the same but they differ in the number of jurors that are supposed to decide. This is because; the preliminary phase is conducted by one magistrate while the grand jury hearing usually has more than ten jurors that are supposed to make the decision.
The next step in a case of felony like the one Mr. Crook is facing is the appearance before the district court. This cannot take place before the filing of the indictment. The appearance in the district court is formally known as an arraignment. In this session, if at all the criminal will confess that he or she committed the crime, the case is usually set for the sentence hearing but if they refuse to confess, the case is taken to another session that is legally known as the Pre- trial conference.
The next step, in the case if at all Mr. Crook will not plead guilty is the pre- trial conference. This is the session that draws all the parties involved together so that a resolution of the case at hand can be reached. This session involves a practice called plea bargaining and if there is an agreement reached between the prosecutors and the defendant, then the defendant confesses of the crimes but in case there is lack of resolution at the pre- trial conference, then the court is obliged to set a new day for another trial.
The other step is the trial. The most common trial for a felony case is called a jury trial and the number of Jurors that preside over this trial range from ten to twelve. However, there are exceptional instances where the parties can make an agreement that the number of jurors be reduced or they can even decide to have the trial conducted by one judge rather than bench of jurors. This is especially because a bench of jurors takes a very long time to conduct the trial as opposed to a single judge. It is also very expensive to use a jury than a judge.
After the trial, the next step is the sentencing. This is the final phase of the regular hearings that are conducted before a court. At the sentencing, the criminals or the defendants have a constitutional right to address the court and this right is usually made aware to them during the initial hearing. In the sentencing session, the prosecution recommends to the court the nature and the length of sentence that the defendant ought to be given, and the defendant is also allowed to respond to the recommendations of the prosecution. In this session, both the accusing and the defending witnesses are called again to give their evidence and also react to the recommendations of the prosecution regarding the sentencing. The court is left with the obligation of deciding the length of the sentence and the fine that will be imposed. The discussion of the damages that the plaintiff is supposed to pay the victims is also discussed at this stage especially if it is found out that the defendant is not guilty. However, for the case of Mr. Crook, it might not come to this stage if he confesses early that he is guilty.
After the sentencing, there are two things that take place. The defendant may be forced to serve a certain period of time in jail, or they can be put on probation. When one is put is probation, the requirements for a full sentence are usually suspended but one is required to do some particular things to compensate for the suspension of the imprisonment. These things include community service, social restrictions and even restriction of movement.
There is also the retention of jurisdiction especially in cases that involve felony where the court sends the defendant to the institutions of correction but in this case, the ability to give probation is not given to the prison systems; it remains with the district court. This option is in the legal circles colloquially referred to as a rider or formally called retained jurisdiction. The retention of the jurisdiction by the judge that makes the sentence can only extend for a period of six months after the defendant has been put in the state correction systems (Sheppard 2007). The purpose of this period is to enable the correction systems to make an evaluation of the defendant’s ability to comply with the probation regulations. After the evaluation, a decision is made whether to send the assailant on probation or to keep them in the correction systems.
The advice I would give to Mr. Robert Crook is to turn himself in since the warrant of arrest has been issued. He will be taken through the initial hearing and during the next hearing before the magistrate he should plead guilty to his crime because the evidence against him is quite overwhelming and there is no evidence to his defense. Pleading guilty early is such a case will work to his advantage because there he will be able to appeal to be considered as a first offended which may reduce the severity of the sentence that the court will impose (Gargarin, 1999). It will also lessen the amount of money he would have to spend on the attorneys if the case lengthens because of his refusal to plead. Finally, since this is a case of violent crime where a gun or its symbolism was involved, it is highly unlikely that Mr. Robert Crook will be put on probation and he will have to serve the full sentence given by the judge.
References
Gagarin, M. (1999). Early Law. Berkeley: University of California Press
Garner, Richard. (1997). Law and Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gerven, V. et al. (2001). Cases, Materials and Text on National, Supranational and International Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing. 2001.
Lunney, M. (2003).Tort Law – Texts, Cases New York: Oxford University Press
Michel, F. (1995). Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison. New York: Random House.
Noyes, E. J. Et Al. (2007). International Law Stories: Washington: Foundation Press.
Sheppard, A. (2007). Modern Law .New Jersey: Alley & Bacon.
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