Pretrial Process

The pretrial process serves three primary functions, which are; probing with the intent of ascertaining the credibility of the defendant, as well as defining terms under which bale, or bond is granted to the defendant. Pretrial could also determine if the defendant is to be put under custody in case there is reasonable ground to do so. After the arrest, the suspect should be arraigned before court in a period of not more than 24 hours. The suspect is indicted in a court of Law for prosecution. Charges against the accused are read. The defendant is then asked to take a plea of the charges read against them, which determines the way in which the case will take course.

Pretrial Process

The prosecutor can then decide on whether or not to press charges based on factual proof that satisfies either the bench or the jury. The prosecutor then files a document charging the accused. There are two commonly used documents used for charging which include; Indictment and Information documents. This process guides the parole process and determines the condition under which the accused will conduct themselves until the trial process is stable (Peak, 2015). The accused is fed with the details under which parole, bond, or bail is granted.

The accused is then given a date in which he or she is to appear for the first hearing. On that particular date, the counsels from both sides appear in the preliminary hearing. These proceedings are called adversary; the defense counsel then challenges the plaintiff.

At this stage, the defense and prosecution can make applications and motions. The plaintiff then gives a list of witnesses and the evidence they wish to rely upon throughout the trial process (Peak, 2016).

References
Peak, K. J. (2015). Introduction to criminal justice. Los Angeles: Sage.