After an individual has been arrested and accused of committing a crime, he or she will face arraignment, where he or she will enter a plea of guilty, no contest, or not guilty.
  Should the individual enter a plea of not guilty, the court must decide whether to proceed with the case.
This process to determine whether a case should proceed to trial is called the preliminary hearing.
  The preliminary hearing is often referred to as the trial before the trial, because it works much like a regular criminal trial does.
During a preliminary hearing, an accused individual and his or her lawyer will present the defendant's case along with any evidence and witnesses that are available.
  The prosecutor, which is the government, will also present its evidence and witnesses against the defendant.
After this happens, the judge must make a decision.
  Usually, this decision is founded in two vitally important questions: 1.
       Did the crime occur in the court's jurisdiction? 2.
       Is there enough evidence to provide probable cause that the defendant committed the crime? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then the judge will usually charge the defendant with a crime.
  If the answer to even one of the questions is no, then the judge must drop charges, and the individual is free from the criminal accusations.
Should the case progress, the defendant will face a criminal trial, during which a jury or his or her peers will determine whether he or she is guilty or innocent.
An individual's future may greatly hinge on his or her preliminary hearings, so it is important for individuals accused of crimes to hire experienced criminal defense to handle their cases during the preliminary stages.
If you or someone you love was recently accused of committing a crime, discuss your legal rights and options with the Champaign-Urbana criminal defense attorneys of Thomas A.
Bruno & Associates.