Navigating the Felony Case Process
Are you facing felony charges and you’re not sure how this case is going to look? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a criminal defense attorney with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been practicing criminal law for about seven years now, and I want to help you make law easy by just describing to you what a felony case looks like.
The Initial Stages: Arraignment and Preliminary Hearings
So, felonies and misdemeanors are different in a couple of ways, but here’s the biggest one. A felony is kind of a two-part act. So, first part, you’re going to start with your arraignment. You show up to court. You tell the judge, I plead not guilty. And the judge is going to give you a new court date.
Sometimes it’s going to be for what’s called a pre-preliminary hearing announcement, and one day, probably before I retire, I’ll be able to say that without stuttering. Or they’re just going to go ahead and set you up for a preliminary hearing. They’ll set it out far enough, or they’ll give you the PPH date to give you some time to work with your attorney, to get with the state, and see if there’s any way a resolution can be reached without going to trial.
Usually, this is when your lawyer is going to be trying to do discovery, getting some information from the state, and going over the possible negotiation options for whether or not you’re going to be able to enter a plea. Those happen usually at this stage, in the first act of the plea.
Preliminary Hearing and Moving to District Court
If that doesn’t work, if for whatever reason you aren’t able to get a dismissal, or you’re not able to get a plea offer that is something that you like, then you’re going to resolve that act, which is called a preliminary hearing. At this stage, the state has to put on a case to show that it’s more likely than not that a crime was committed by you within that jurisdiction, and that the burden of proof is very low. It’s a preponderance of the evidence. It’s 51-49 more likely that you did it.
The burden is so low here that the state usually… I say usually because sometimes they don’t, but more often than not, in my experience, the state meets its burden of proof in the eyes of the court, and then you get bound over to the district court level. This is the second act of the plea.
Preparing for a Jury Trial
Now, this is a really important time, because this is the time when you’re going to be looking at going to jury trial, which means that you’re going to be looking at also having to pay your jury trial fee to your attorney. So you’ve got to keep that financial aspect in there also. At the district court level, you’re going to do an arraignment again. You’re going to go in front of a different judge. You’re going to say, hey, I plead not guilty.
After that time, your lawyer is going to do some motion practice to try to suppress evidence to try to get the case dismissed the hard way or not the hard way, but instead of negotiation, they’re going to try to get the court to dismiss it over the state’s objection. And if that’s not able to work, or if that just doesn’t work out, you’re looking at jury trial at that point.
Facing Felony Charges: Get the Help You Need
That’s the conclusion of the plea. That’s when you and your lawyer, show up, you select 12 jurors, and you put on your case. Well, you let the state put on their case, and you put on your defense, whatever the defense is. And the state has to prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Schedule Your Initial Strategy Session Today
If you’re in a situation where you’re facing felony charges, and you’re not sure what you’re looking at, or you’re not feeling great about it, or you need some help, give us a call. I’m Tulsa criminal law attorney Carl Birkhead, and I want to help you make law easy. Call 918-879-1681 to schedule a low-cost initial strategy session today. Thank you.
