Understanding Preliminary Hearings: An Introduction
What’s a preliminary hearing? I’m Tulsa attorney Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office Oklahoma. I want to help you make law easy by telling you a little bit about what a preliminary hearing is, what your part of that entails, and what it looks like if you win or lose on it.
So I’ve been practicing criminal law for about seven years now, and preliminary hearings kind of just weirded me out whenever I first started because it’s almost like a trial before the trial. Different attorneys have different approaches when it comes to preliminary hearings. I’d kind of take a minimalist approach. Man, I would love to be able to say that without stuttering one day.
The Role of the State in Preliminary Hearings
At prelim, the state has to put on their case to prove that they just had like a baseline justification for filing the charges against you. The burden of proof is on the state just like it is at trial. But unlike a trial, at prelim, the burden of proof is only preponderance of the evidence.
So basically, if you’re at a 50-50, it happened, it didn’t happen, the state’s able to just slightly show that it did happen or it looks like it might have happened or maybe it happened, they’re going to win. They win every time. I even had a case recently where my client had a decent defense. I’m going to put it that way because at prelim, the state’s witnesses, they, what they showed me was that they’re not able to keep their story straight.
Using Preliminary Hearings to Your Advantage
They were contradicting what they told the police originally. They were, the two witnesses that they called contradicted each other’s statements to an extent. And even though that wasn’t enough to get the court to dismiss it at the prelim level, that gave me some ammunition to use farther on down the road when it comes to trial.
Because now I’ve got them on the record twice saying one thing with the cops, saying another thing to the court. And if we get a third option at trial, then their credibility is just shot. All of that helps me. So I don’t typically do a lot of cross-examination at prelim. You’re not going to see me just bang my fist on the table at prelim.
Preparing for Next Steps After Preliminary Hearings
I would much rather just gather information so that we can get ready to go to trial on this. As I said, the burden of proof is very low. And so more often than not, the state is going to, or the court is going to rule on the side of the state. The state’s going to win at that point.
But it gives me what I need to either file a motion at the next level to get the case dismissed, basically saying, hey judge, the lower court shouldn’t have done it this way. I need you to dismiss it. Or if that doesn’t work, it gives me the information that I need to be able to take it to trial and to help you guys win at trial.
Contact Us for a Strategy Session
Ultimately, our goal is to make sure that we get you the best deal possible or get you an acquittal. And at that point, if we’re looking at prelim, we’re prepping for a jury trial. So our goal is going to be acquittal. If you have questions about prelim, if you’ve got one coming up and you’re feeling nervous about it, or if you just don’t know what to do in these types of situations, call us.
The best thing that you can do is call a lawyer. If you already have a lawyer, talk with them. If you don’t have one, call me. My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a Tulsa criminal attorney with Wirth Law Office and I want to help you to make law easy. Thank you. For a low-cost initial strategy session, contact us at 918-879-1681.
