THE

PROCESS

AND

EXAMPLES

OF FELONIES.

Felony is defined as a crime that results in prisonsentencing for a year or longer. They are crimes that areknown to cause serious damage to a property or a victimand are considered dangerous to the community. Crimesthat are felonies are critical and therefore the penalties forFelonies are much severe.

Before you proceed to know a few examples of felonies, youwould need to understand what is a felony? What happensin a case of a felony and what are the consequences.

What is a felony?

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A misdemeanor crime may involve a jail term that is nolonger than a year compared to a felony where the jailterm is always more than a year.Fines and bail amount in a misdemeanor case areminimal compared to a felony. Felonies are seriouscrimes and hence the bail bond is usually set at a highamount‘Wobbler’ as the name suggests is a crime that will beconsidered under a misdemeanor or a felony dependingon the severity of the case.Crimes under a felony usually take more court time thana misdemeanor as the burden of proof is not as much asin a felony case.

Felonies are acts of violence whereas a misdemeanor is aless severe crime.

How is a felony different from a Misdemeanor orcitations?

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The Process of a felony caseAs mentioned above a felony case the burden of proof ismuch higher than a misdemeanor. There is evidence andwitness required at every stage of the trail. Below is theprocess of a felony case:

Felony crimes are mostly dealt with by attorneys on bothsides of a trial. Hence a licensed attorney will register acomplaint against the defendant before the United StatesMagistrate. AT this point there is enough evidence for theMagistrate to register the complaint and consider theoffense as a crime under Constitutional Laws of The UnitedStates. At the same time upon the acceptance of thecomplaint, the magistrate will issue an arrest warrant.

Registration of a complaint

The magistrate has to be assured of the seriousness of thecrime and that it has occurred. Hence before an arrestwarrant goes out the law enforcement will interrogate thevictim if possible and the witnesses. The statements givenby them are reported to the Assistant United StatesAttorney assigned to the case. The attorney in some casesmay also interview the victim and the witnesses to preparea strong case with relevant charges that can be appliedagainst the defendant.

Interviewing the victims

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In the preliminary hearing, the evidence in the case isdiscussed. Witness and physical evidence to prove thecause and intent of the felony. The prosecuting attorney hasto provide enough evidence to push the case to a trial.Witnesses are Subpoenaed to be present during thepreliminary hearing

The defendant is made aware of the rights of theaccused as per the constitution and The Bill of RightsThe defendant gets an attorney known as the criminaldefense attorney if they cannot hire an attorneythemselvesThe court also sets the bail amount and the courtdecides if the defendant is worthy of bail at this point inthe court case.

The initial appearance of the defendant in the court ismostly on the same day as the arrest. Without any timebeing wasted, there are three important components to theprocess of the initial hearing that are explained to thedefendant

In many felony cases, the defendant is released after theinitial trial and they need to post a money bond guaranteethat they will reappear for the trials and any future hearings.If the defendant is not allowed to be released, a bail amountis decided. The defendant is locked up in prison. For anydefendant who is released, they need to follow someserious guidelines such as not tampering with any evidenceor meeting the witness and victims, or threatening them.

The Initial Court Appearance

Preliminary Hearing

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A grand jury is a group of select 23 citizens who are set uptogether by the court to judge the evidence against thedefendant. The witnesses are put under the oath. They aresworn to make an impartial, non-discriminatory judgment ofthe evidence and weigh both sides of the case equally. Ifthe defendant is charged by the jury it is called anindictment. If the jury decides that there should not be anyprosecution in the case then they will return a no true billand no indictment will be issued in this case.

Grand Jury Hearing

The defendant is informed about the charges which arecontinued in the indictment by the jury. The conditions ofthe bail are reviewed and the date is set for trial.

Arraignment on the jury's indictment

Just before the trial, the court may keep a session to hearthe motion set by the defendant. These may includemotions to suppress or hide evidence, to compel discovery,or resolve some legal issues.During the same time, the witness is asked by the stateattorney to appear in the court for a conference to preparethem for the trial. This is to review the responses of thewitness against the evidence that is to be presented duringthe trial.

Motion by the defendant and witness

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The trial date is informed to the witness with a subpoena.Failing to adhere to a subpoena the court fine the witness.A felony trial; follows the same pattern as any other case inthe court. Both prosecution and the defense have openingstatements. Each side presents its case to the jury and thejudge. Both sides examine and cross-examine the witnessand the evidence in the case. This was followed by aclosing argument and statement by the attorneys.

The Trial

A presentence investigation report is prepared after thedefendant is convicted by the United States ProbationOffice. The penalty for the case is entirely decided by theJudge. There may be fine and jail or fine or probation for acertain number of years under the supervision of the court.Compensation to the victim is decided after reading theVictim Impact report which offers an insight into thedamages faced by the victim. It may be financial, physical,emotional, or psychological damage.

Penalty

Sometimes crimes involve many people. Even if the mainculprit is convicted there are chances that the witness andthe victim have a danger to their lives from others who arein a relationship with the felon. A felon is a person who ischarged with a Felony. In such cases, the court orderssecurity for the witness and victim that may include hidingof the identity and change of names, etc.

Protection of the victim and witnesses

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MurderManslaughterFelony AssaultArsonKidnappingBurglary Tax EvasionAnimal CrueltyGrand LarcenySale or manufacturing of drugsChild PornographyTreason

Example of Crimes in Felonies

SummaryIf you or anyone you know are facing charges of a felony.You must seek the advice of a Criminal Defense Lawyer.Only a qualified lawyer can help a felony accused. As theconvict not only faces jail time but also the crime goes on apermanent personal record. Click here to learn more on such legal matters.

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