Trial refers to the judicial proceeding in which facts and evidences are examined, to find out the guilt or innocence of the accused.
Headed by Judge Judge or Jury Object To ascertain whether the charges imposed are worth pursuing or not. To identify the guilt or innocence of the accused. In law, hearing implies the general assessment of a case by the judge, wherein preliminary decision is taken by the judge, regarding whether the case is to be pursued or not.
These are oral arguments, in support of the case, to settle it or make a judgement or to decide relevant aspects of the case, to ascertain the way in which trial will proceed. It can be held for any civil, criminal or administrative proceeding. In a court hearing, the lawyers of both the parties, i. After that, the judge decides whether to hold the accused or not for trial, on the basis of the evidence provided. The trial can be understood as the legal proceeding in which the evidence and witnesses are legally taken on oath, and the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined.
The trial is an official hearing of a lawsuit, before a court, to verify facts and evidence and ascertain legal claims that result in the judgement, through adversary system.
Hearings can have testimony from witnesses, or they can be matters that have only arguments by the attorneys involved in a case. Hearings are often thought of as shorter matters than trials, but some hearings can last multiple hours, or in rare instances, all day. If there was witnesses, and the judge made a final decision on which party won and which party lost the case, then it was a trial, even though your attorney might call it a hearing.
Jedidiah McKeehan is an attorney practicing in Knox County and surrounding counties. He works in many areas, including criminal, personal injury, landlord-tenant, probate, and estate planning. Visit attorney-knoxville. The preliminary hearing tests the prosecutor's decision to bring the case and serves to protect individuals from unfounded criminal charges.
Differences Between Preliminary Hearings and Trials Preliminary hearings serve to protect the defendant from unfounded criminal charges—making sure the prosecutor has sufficient evidence to allow a criminal trial to go forward. These hearings also differ from trials in other respects, such as: Length. Preliminary hearings are much shorter than trials. A typical preliminary hearing may take from a half-hour to two hours, while some only last a few minutes.
Trials can last hours, days, or weeks. No jury. A judge not a jury will conduct a preliminary hearing. Trials can also be conducted by judges alone called a " bench trial " , but preliminary hearings never involve a jury. Burden of proof. The burden of proof , while still on the prosecution, is much lower during a preliminary hearing than it is during the trial. At trial, the prosecution has the burden of proving each element of the charged offense s beyond a reasonable doubt.
But at the preliminary hearing, the prosecution need only show probable cause exists—in other words, enough evidence to justify a belief that a crime occurred and the defendant committed it.
Different purpose and goal. The goal of trial is to determine a defendant's guilt. The goal of a preliminary hearing is to screen cases—weeding out weak cases and protecting defendants from unfounded prosecutions. Unofficially, however, each side uses the preliminary hearing to check out the other side's evidence.
As a matter of course, both the defense and prosecution tend not to put on so much evidence that they show their whole hand. And, because the defense doesn't have to, it often doesn't put on any evidence at all. Using the Preliminary Hearing as a Substitute for Trial After a preliminary hearing, prosecutors and defense attorneys sometimes agree to "submit the case on the record.
Even though the defense doesn't expect to see all the prosecution's cards, the preliminary hearing may give the defense a preview of: how strong the prosecution's evidence is how persuasive the prosecution's witnesses are, and how believable those witnesses might be should the case go to trial.
Defense Strategies for Cross-Examining Witnesses at the Preliminary Hearing Information gathered at the preliminary hearing will also help the defense if the case is one of the few that do go to trial. This serves two purposes: First, it may relax and lull a witness into admitting damaging evidence either then and there, or later when the defense attorney unexpectedly gets aggressive at trial.
Second, the defense may save evidence that hurts the witness's credibility and spring it on the witness at trial. Because the defense did not produce this evidence at the preliminary hearing, the witness may not be expecting it at the trial, and the surprise may fluster the witness and make him or her look bad in the eyes of the jury. Talk With Your Attorney If you're facing criminal charges, talk to your attorney about your options and possible defense strategies.
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