How Long Between Pretrial and Trial?

There are so many different procedures that need to be followed in a court of law, and when it comes to going to trial, you will have a pre-trial beforehand.

A court case can involve lots of waiting around between court dates so that both the prosecutor and defense have enough time to develop their cases, and the court will also have many other cases to get through at the same time. This is why it can take so long to get a court date for your trial.

In this article, we are going to go through everything that you need to know about a pre-trial and the trial, so you can have a better understanding of what is happening. You will also be able to find out here how long it will take from the date of the pre-trial to get a new date for your trial. 

What is a Pre-Trial?

Once the processor has gone through the motions of gathering sufficient evidence against the defendant, they will have to submit a request to the pre-trial judge in order to be able to issue a warrant of arrest or a summons to appear.

The judges will only grant these requests if there are reasonable grounds for them to believe that the person has actually committed the crime within their jurisdiction.

Either an arrest warrant or summons to appear will be issued if the judge believes beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has committed the crime.

The next thing to happen will be the pre-trial. This is where the judges will deliberate and decide whether there is sufficient enough evidence against the defendant that would stand up in court during a trial.

There will be a hearing that takes place where the judge will confirm the identity of the suspect and read out the charges that have been made against them to make sure that they understand.

There will also be a second hearing where the prosecution and defense will both have the opportunity to present their cases. If there is enough evidence against the accused individual that can prove that it is plausible that they have committed the crime, then the judges can decide to go forward with a trial.

If not, the judge may close the case or ask the prosecution to provide more evidence. All of these decisions can be appealed in certain circumstances with the judge’s authorization.

The pre-trial can last for around two hours and will decide whether or not you will be required to go to trial.

What is a Trial?

There are many different types of trials that can take place, depending on the severity of the crime that has been committed. There are four types of trials, which are criminal trials, civil trials, administrative hearing and trial, and labor trial. We will outline these briefly below.

A criminal trial is designed so that they can resolve any accusations against the defendant. Most of the time, this will be a trial that is held before a jury, and most criminal defendants have the right to his.

A civil trial would usually be held to settle a lawsuit or civil claim for non-criminal disputes.

An administrative hearing and trial is not typically considered a normal trial, and they will have elements that are more formal.

A labor trial is also often referred to as employment law, and it is the body of laws that address the legal rights of individuals that are working and their employers.

After a decent amount of time has been spent preparing the case, the prosecutor will be ready to go to trial. The trial takes place so that the facts of the case can be presented to the jury, who will ultimately decide whether or not the defendant is guilty or not guilty of the charges against them.

Throughout the trial, the prosecutor will use both witnesses and evidence to prove to the jury that the defendant is guilty of committing the alleged crimes. The defendant will be presented with the opportunity to tell their side of the story through their attorney using both witnesses and evidence.

During the trial, not all evidence can be presented to the jury, depending on whether or not it has been presented fairly. The judge has the ability to decide this. At the end of the trial, it will be deliberated whether or not the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

How Long is the Wait Between Pre-Trial and Trial?

There is no definitive answer to this question because all cases will be resolved in different amounts of time. There are no two cases that are the same, so the time they take to be resolved will differ.

Between the arrest, pre-trial, the trial, and sentencing, there will be a lot of waiting around while decisions are being made and cases are being built. Some criminal cases can take years from start to finish, and they vary in length, depending on the case.

For a felony defendant, the court must bring them to trial within a total of 60 days from the arraignment, and for a misdemeanor defendant, the court must bring them to trial within 30 days of the arraignment.

If the misdemeanor defendant is not in custody, then the wait time is extended to a maximum of 45 days. A defendant does have the right to waive their right to a speedy trial in the time period mentioned above, meaning that the court will no longer follow these time guidelines. However, even when the right is waived, the trial must still go ahead within ten days of when the trial date is set.

For criminal cases, the time period is usually a much longer wait because there is a vast amount of information that needs to be gathered in preparation for the trial.

There will also be at least one pre-trial hearing that will need to take place first, and between the pretrial and the trial, both sides of the case will have to do lots of preparation before the trial. How long this process will take depends on the complexity of the overall case.

You should talk to your defense attorney to find out more about how long your case will take