What happens at trial?
You must be present at trial, even if you hire your own attorney. At trial, the City Prosecutor presents evidence first and will call witnesses to present the case against you. The City Prosecutor presents the case by asking the police officers, code enforcement officers, animal control officers and/or other witnesses questions. The answers these witnesses provide in Municipal Court help the Municipal Judge decide whether you committed the violation. At trial, you or your attorney may ask questions of the City Prosecutor’s witnesses. You or your attorney may also call witnesses and present evidence in your own defense. You may also testify on your own behalf, if you wish. If you testify, the City Prosecutor may ask you questions about the case. The case you or your attorney presents also helps the Municipal Judge decide whether you committed the violation.
If your case is a misdemeanor, meaning that the potential jail sentence is one year or less, then the next court date after the arraignment is usually the trial. If your case does not settle through a plea agreement, the Commonwealth will present its witnesses and evidence against you and your lawyer will have the opportunity to cross-examine and cast doubt upon the Commonwealths witnesses because of their lack of credibility, bias, poor memory, or other reasons. Your lawyer will discuss trial strategy with you to determine what evidence can be presented in your defense and whether you should or should not testify at trial. You have the absolute right not to testify and in some situations it may be better that you dont. You should discuss this with your lawyer before the trial.
In a trial, the criminal district attorney presents the case for the State, attempting to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime as charged. The defendant may present his or her side of the case, or may present no case at all. The jury (if one has been impaneled) or the judge must decide whether the State’s case has been proved by legally-sufficient evidence. If the defendant is found guilty, our law provides for a second stage of trial at which the defendant’s punishment, within the range authorized by law, is fixed by either the jury or a judge. The defendant is permitted to determine whether he wants his punishment set by the judge or a jury.
You must be present at trial, even if you hire your own attorney. At trial the prosecutor goes first and will call witnesses to present the case against you. The prosecutor presents the case by asking the police officers and other witnesses questions. Their answers in court help the judge decide whether you committed the violation. At trial, you or your attorney may ask questions of the police officer and other witnesses the prosecutor calls to prove the case. You or your attorney may also call witnesses and present evidence in your own defense. You may also testify on your own behalf, if you wish. If you testify, the prosecutor may ask you questions about the case. The case you or your attorney present also helps the judge decide whether you committed the violation.
In a personal injury trial, a judge or jury examines the evidence to decide whether, by a “preponderance of the evidence,” the defendant should be held legally responsible for the injuries and harm alleged by the plaintiff. A trial is the plaintiff’s opportunity to argue his or her case, in the hope of obtaining a judgment against the defendant. A trial also represents the defendant’s chance to refute the plaintiff’s case, and to offer his or her own evidence related to the dispute at issue. After both sides have presented their arguments, the judge or jury considers whether to find the defendant liable for the plaintiff’s claimed injuries, and if so, to what extent (i.e. the amount of money damages a defendant must pay).
