Defendants Can Dispute Evidence
Video Transcript: What’s a preliminary hearing? Hi, my name is Jason Sorenson. I’m an attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma at Wirth Law Office, and today we’re going to be talking about preliminary hearings. So what is a preliminary hearing?
A preliminary hearing is a hearing at the beginning of a criminal trial where the judge determines whether there’s enough probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and that the crime was committed by the defendant. So the defendant has the opportunity to dispute any the evidence that the state is trying to use against them.
They also have the time to try to tie down what exactly the state is trying to use as evidence and what witnesses they’re trying to use. But if the state isn’t able to prove that there’s probable cause and that the defendant is guilty of that, then the defendant can win the hearing and the case can get dismissed.
However, the bar at that stage is very low because all they need is shows that there’s probable cause. They’re not trying to actually show that the defendant really did commit the crime, just that there’s reasonable belief that it could have been done. So it is a really low bar and the majority of the times, the prosecution is going to win that hearing and the case is going to move forward.
But if you need help with a criminal case or if you want more information about things like preliminary hearings, you can visit MakeLawEasy.com or you can give us a call at Wirth Law Office to speak with a criminal defense lawyer in Oklahoma.
