What Is A Preliminary Hearing // Right Law Group

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Transcript:

If you're charged with a felony charge in the state of Colorado, you most likely have heard the term preliminary hearing tossed around in court. A lot of people call a prelim for short. So what is a preliminary hearing? The best way to think about a preliminary hearing is basically it's a mini trial. But I want to dig in a little bit further. So a preliminary hearing is designed for higher level felony cases, or cases that are putting a defendant more risk. In other words, if someone is facing higher or extreme charges, or if they're in custody, if they're in jail, and they're sitting there in jail on these charges. So preliminary hearings are for higher level felonies, if you're out of custody, usually F four and above, so class four felony and above, or if you're in custody, you automatically qualify for a preliminary hearing, so long as you're in custody. And what it is is is a requirement that the DEA prove that they have probable cause to charge you for the offenses that they're bringing against you. In other words, when they have a complaint information, let's say you're charged with kidnapping is very high, serious felony in the state of Colorado. So when you're charged with kidnapping, you have the right to a preliminary hearing. In other words, you have the right with your defense attorney to get the DEA to prove that they have even probable cause to bring these charges. And the reason that is only available to felonies is because you're facing a lot higher of a risk, you're facing exposure to a lot more prison time, and it's a much more serious charge. The State of Colorado is just not equipped to offer preliminary hearings on lower level offenses. But in these higher level senses, it is worth the time and energy for the court to have these available. Now, in this preliminary hearing, the DEA has to prove that they have probable cause for the charges. The rules are more relaxed in a preliminary hearing, though, than at a jury trial. So the DA does not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you're guilty of them, they just have to prove that they have enough evidence and probable cause to charge you. They also don't have the same rules of evidence in a preliminary hearing that you do in a jury trial. In other words, you don't have to have a number of witnesses come in for a preliminary hearing. And people can bring in statements that are hearsay statements. Usually what happens at a preliminary hearing is the DEA will call one or two law enforcement officers and get them to testify as to why they believe that they had probable cause to charge you. And like I said, the rules are much more relaxed in this because the only issue is whether there's probable cause not whether you're guilty. And so a lot of the times they'll say, Well, what did this person say what made you make that decision, and it's a much faster process....