14.4 Stages of Criminal Procedure and Evidence

The PCCE tests stages of criminal procedure the way it tests a civil docket: name the event, name the paper, and know who files it. Domain 2 then adds criminal evidence — not a second FRE survey (that lives in the civil-litigation chapter) but the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt burden, character limits, hearsay as a trial problem, and chain of custody. States vary on preliminary-hearing rights, grand-jury use, and bail statutes. Use the federal-and-general sequence below.

Investigation, arrest, booking

Investigation is police and prosecutor work before a formal charge: interviews, physical evidence, warrants, and grand-jury subpoenas. A paralegal on either side is already building a chronology and a document index.

An arrest is a seizure that takes the person into custody. It requires probable cause that a crime was committed and that this person committed it. Arrests are made with a warrant or, in many public-felony settings, without a warrant on probable cause. A summons or citation can start a lower-level case without a custodial arrest.

Booking is the jail's administrative intake: identification, fingerprints, photograph, inventory of property, and often a phone call. Booking is not arraignment and not a finding of guilt. Statements taken during booking questions that go beyond routine pedigree can become Miranda problems if they are interrogation in custody.

Charging documents: complaint, information, indictment

Three charging labels matter.

• A complaint is a sworn statement of probable cause. It often starts a case, supports an arrest warrant, and is common for misdemeanors or as a placeholder until a later information or indictment.
• An information is a charging instrument signed by the prosecutor. Many states use an information after a preliminary hearing at which a judge finds probable cause. Because the Fifth Amendment grand-jury clause is not incorporated, a state felony information can be constitutionally sufficient.
• An indictment is a charging instrument returned by a grand jury. Federal felony practice is built on indictment unless the defendant waives. The grand jury decides probable cause, not guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and the defense is ordinarily not present.

Exam tell. Grand jury returns an indictment. Prosecutor files an information. Neither paper is a civil complaint under FRCP 8.

A preliminary hearing (when the jurisdiction uses one) is an adversarial probable-cause check before a judge. It is not a mini-trial on guilt and not the same event as arraignment.

Initial appearance, bail, arraignment

The initial appearance is the first court event after arrest: the defendant is told the charge, advised of basic rights (including counsel), and considered for release. Deadlines are short and jurisdiction-specific. Do not invent a national hour count.

Bail / pretrial release balances appearance and public safety against liberty. Conditions range from personal recognizance, to an unsecured bond, to a secured bond, to pretrial detention when the statute allows. The Eighth Amendment forbids excessive bail; it does not guarantee release in every case. A paralegal calendars the hearing, gathers criminal-history printouts, and tracks third-party custodian paperwork.

Arraignment is the event at which the defendant is formally charged in court and enters a plea. Possible pleas:

• Not guilty — the case proceeds toward motions and trial.
• Guilty — the defendant admits the elements; the court must find the plea knowing, voluntary, and supported by a factual basis.
• Nolo contendere (no contest) — treated as a guilty plea for this criminal case, but it can limit collateral use in a later civil case. Availability varies.
• Some jurisdictions allow an Alford plea (guilty plea while maintaining innocence) if the record still shows a factual basis. States vary. Do not treat Alford as universal.

Plea bargaining can be a charge bargain (plead to a lesser or fewer counts), a sentence bargain (agreed recommendation or cap), or a count bargain (dismiss other counts). The judge is not required to accept every agreement. A plea waives many trial rights, including the jury and confrontation, if the waiver is valid. It does not automatically waive every appellate claim; jurisdictional and some constitutional claims can survive. Look up the local rule instead of inventing a waiver catalog.

Discovery, Brady, and pretrial motions

Criminal discovery is narrower than civil FRCP 26 practice. There is generally no deposition of the accused. Many jurisdictions require disclosure of witness lists, statements, expert reports, and physical evidence on a statutory or rule timetable. The prosecution also has a constitutional duty under Brady v. Maryland to disclose material exculpatory evidence — evidence favorable to the accused on guilt or punishment. Giglio extends that duty to material impeachment of government witnesses (deals, prior inconsistent statements, integrity findings). Brady is not a civil interrogatory. The duty exists even if the defense never asked in those words.

Defense disclosure is limited and often centered on reciprocal expert and alibi/insanity notices. The Fifth Amendment stops the state from forcing the accused to become a discovery witness against himself.

Pretrial motions the PCCE wants by name:

• Motion to suppress — keep out a statement, an identification, or physical evidence because of the Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth Amendment (or a statutory counterpart). The suppression hearing is the paralegal's document-heavy event: the warrant and affidavit, the return, body-worn camera, booking photos, property receipts, and a chain-of-custody log from seizure to the courtroom envelope.
• Motion to dismiss — a defective charge, a speedy-trial violation, double jeopardy, or a statute that is void for vagueness or otherwise unconstitutional.
• Other practice motions: change of venue, sever defendants or counts, compel discovery, in limine evidence rulings.

If the case is not resolved by dismissal or plea, it goes to trial, then sentencing, then post-conviction review (the next section).

Criminal evidence the PCCE actually asks

The prosecution must prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt. That is a higher burden than civil preponderance and higher than the probable cause that supported the arrest, the indictment, or many suppression issues. The defendant has no burden to prove innocence. Affirmative defenses may shift a production burden, and some jurisdictions assign the defendant a persuasion burden on insanity by a stated standard — states vary.

Relevance is the same low bar taught with the FRE: the item has any tendency to make a fact of consequence more or less probable. A court may still exclude relevant evidence when unfair prejudice substantially outweighs probative value.

Character. The prosecution generally may not use the accused's bad character to prove propensity (acted in character, therefore did this crime). The accused may offer evidence of a pertinent good-character trait and thereby open the door. Other-act evidence offered for a non-propensity purpose (identity, motive, intent, absence of mistake) is a different label. Victim-character rules in assault and sexual-assault cases are statutory and easy to get wrong; stay at the propensity-versus-non-propensity line unless the stem gives a rule number.

Hearsay at a criminal-practice level is an out-of-court statement offered for its truth. Criminal trials add the Confrontation Clause: testimonial hearsay from an absent witness is generally out unless the witness is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine. A 911 call describing an ongoing emergency may be nontestimonial; a stationhouse affidavit prepared for trial is the opposite picture. Lab reports offered as testimonial accusations raise the same confrontation flag.

Chain of custody is how a paralegal proves the exhibit in court is the item seized on the street: each transfer is documented, sealed, and accounted for. Gaps go to weight or, if serious, to admissibility. Photograph the seal, log the bag number, and do not repair a broken chain with a casual recollection.

Term-swap. Probable cause charges and arrests. Beyond a reasonable doubt convicts. Brady is exculpatory disclosure, not a civil document request. Arraignment takes the plea; the initial appearance is the first advisement and release decision. A suppression hearing is not sentencing and not a grand-jury session.