Probable Cause - Probable Cause Hearings

Probable Cause Hearings

See also: Evidentiary hearing

In the various states of the United States, a probable cause hearing is the preliminary hearing typically taking place before arraignment and before a serious crime goes to trial. The judge is presented with the basis of the prosecution's case, and the defendant is afforded full right of cross-examination and the right to be represented by legal counsel. If the prosecution cannot make a case of probable cause, the court must dismiss the case against the accused.

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Famous quotes containing the words probable and/or hearings:

    It makes me hate accepting things that are probable when they are held up before me as infallibly true. I prefer these words which tone down and modify the hastiness of our propositions: “Perhaps, In some sort, Some, They say, I think,” and the like.
    Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

    Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time. ...Its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission.
    Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)