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California Preliminary Hearings Deny Use Of Officer History

By Walin & Klarich

Defense Hands are Further Tied By New Court Holding, Requiring More Experienced Criminal Defense Attorneys to Handle Cases Properly The court has found more ways to limit a defendant?s ability to fight his or her California felony case at the Preliminary Hearing. A Preliminary Hearing is a hearing where the prosecutor needs to show the court that there is probable cause to hold the defendant to answer for the crimes he or she is being accused of. Known as Pitchess discovery, the Defense may be entitled to personnel records of officers for use at trial, mainly for impeachment purposes. Wouldn?t you want to know if the officer who is accusing you of a crime had in fact been accused of wrongdoing himself? Seems pretty relevant, correct? Well, earlier this year a California Appellate Court deemed that the Defense may not seek such discovery for use in a preliminary hearing...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on April 09, 2009 (boomark / email).