Should I go to trial?
If you have an ongoing criminal case, you need to consider whether it is in your best interest to resolve your case before it goes to trial or whether you should have your case heard before a jury. (Although you may ask to have a judge hear your case in a “bench trial,” this article will only cover jury trials).
A jury trial can carry a higher reward (total acquittal of your charges) but it carries a correspondingly high risk.
What Happens at Trial?
At trial, a jury will determine whether the prosecutor has established your guilt for a crime. The prosecutor must demonstrate that your conduct met all the “elements” of a particular crime. For example, if you are charged with burglary, a violation of California Penal Code Section 459, the prosecutor has to show that you entered some residential structure (1st degree burglary) or commercial building (2nd degree burglary) with the intent to commit a felony or theft crime once you got inside. The jury will determine whether your conduct amounted to burglary in view of these components of the crime. Your attorney will put on a defense, for example, that you entered a structure but you did not do so with any intent to commit any crime once you got in. If the jury believes the prosecutor has shown that your conduct met the elements of the offense, you will be convicted. If the jury believes your version of the events, specifically, that you lacked the intent to commit a theft crime or a felony, you will be acquitted even though you otherwise entered the structure. Your attorney need only demonstrate that ONE of the elements of offense was not met; he need not disprove every single component of the crime. This is known as creating “reasonable doubt.”
Your attorney will engage the jury in something called “voir dire” in which he will ask the jurors a series of questions. These questions are meant to elicit answers that will help him determine whether or not it’s a good idea to keep particular jurors (if they show some inclination to being pro-defense or giving the defense the benefit of the doubt) while getting certain other jurors dismissed (for example, police officers and other jurors who may demonstrate a bias in favor of the prosecutor and against you). Your attorney will get ten (10) peremptory challenges, meaning that you can kick out up to ten jurors without any showing of good cause. Beyond that, your attorney must show the court good cause for having a juror dismissed. Once the jury selection process is completed, the jury is empaneled and trial begins.
The prosecution will give the jury an opening statement. Then your attorney has an opportunity to give an opening statement. Once these statements are received by the jury, the prosecution will then begin calling it’s witnesses, for example, the victim (e.g., domestic violence case, battery charge, assault charge, etc.), police officer(s), bystanders who claim to have witnessed the crime, etc. Your attorney will have an opportunity to “cross-examine” each witness in hopes of demonstrating to the jury that the witness is biased in favor of the prosecution, has perceptive problems (i.e., faulty memory, inability to identify you, etc.) or is otherwise an unreliable witness or a witness bereft of credibility. Once the prosecution “rests” it’s case, your attorney will have an opportunity to call witnesses in your defense. He may decide it’s a good idea for you to testify and you can put on testimony in your own defense. The risk of this, of course, is that you will be subjected to the prosecutor’s cross-examination, i.e., targeted questions aimed at uncovering your unreliability as a witness. This is known as “impeaching the witness.” Your attorney can try to “rehabilitate” you as a witness to persuade the jury to believe you despite any “slip-ups” in your testimony. Throughout the proceedings, the judge acts as a referee, making rulings as to whether certain evidence will be admitted or kept out. Evidence that is relevant (i.e., tends to prove or disprove some issue in the case) and which is not prejudicial to you (or the other side) will generally be admitted unless there is some objection rooted in the California Evidence Code.
The prosecutor will then put on a closing argument, as will your attorney. The jury will consider the testimony of the various witnesses and facts as presented by both sides and apply the law according to “jury instructions,” as read to the jury by the judge.
Call us if you have a pending case for which you need a trial lawyer. The Coimbra Law Firm are West Covina courthouse jury trial lawyers. Our attorneys include a Certified Trial Advocate, a former prosecutor and a 'Top Attorney' Award-Winner. Call us now: 626-827-7222
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