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The process after you get charged with a crime

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courtMost frequently people do not understand the whole process that happens after one gets charged with any kind of crime. To clarify the whole process we consulted several criminal lawyers in Toronto and wrote their notes in the article below.

 

How a Criminal Case Gets Filed

First of all someone gets arrested and a report is filled by a police. Then a prosecutor reads the report and makes a decision whether it should be treated as a crime. Alternatively, the prosecutor may go to a grand jury and ask their help to decide what kind of criminal charges should be filed. Then a preliminary hearing is held by a judge and at this moment it is decided whether there is enough evidence to proceed. This is a short scope of the process and below are more details.

 

The Arrest and Report

After the police writes a report but before a person is charged with anything a prosecutor has three main options: to file a complaint with the trial court, ask a grand jury about what criminal charges, and in the simplest way elect to not pursue the matter. According to professional Mass Tsang criminal lawyers in Mississauga no matter what the prosecutor decides at this point, you need to be looking for an attorney for representation because a professional can wrap everything up at this very stage.

Most frequently the prosecutor will have no more than three days to file any charges and during these three days professional criminal lawyers can make a great change in the case.

No matter who decided to proceed with the case if they did so. At this point your next stop will be preliminary hearing for which you definitely need criminal lawyers help. If your representation is bad then you case will be given a go while with professional help all the charges against you can be drop within this moment. So after the grand jury or the prosecutor decided that there is enough evidence to open the case there is a preliminary hearing for it.

 

The Preliminary Hearing

Preliminary hearing is one of the most important moments in the whole case, according to Mass Tsang LLP criminal lawyers in Toronto. At this point your prosecutor will have to demonstrate to the judge all possible evidence about your case to prove that the state has to warrant a trial. While the prosecutor is trying to convince the judge you will also have a possibility to protect yourself with the properly chosen words. But be ready that most cases of self-defence end up in trials, while with the help of criminal lawyers in Toronto 78% of cases are closed at this point.

In case not the prosecutor was the decisive factor but the grand jury, the procedure is a little bit different. There is basically no preliminary hearing needed. Exactly because of this prosecutors like juries more, while attorneys prefer prosecutors. If your attorney steps in right before the cases is given to the grand jury you may have no case at all, so do not delay hiring professional to protect you!

For more info check:

Mass Tsang LLP
1810 Avenue Rd #200
Toronto, Ont. M5M 3Z2Canada
(416) 781-1148

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Contributors

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