Criminal procedure refers to the overall legal process of resolving claims for a person who is accused of violating criminal laws. The intention behind all criminal procedures is known as the “presumption of innocence,” which means that a suspect is considered to be innocent until they are proven to be guilty.
Because of this, the burden of proof is on the state prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant actually committed the crime in question. Criminal procedures include a number of Constitutional protections for the defendant, which serve to prevent abuses of the justice system. Some of these protections include:
Criminal procedure can be thought of as a timeline, beginning with the apprehension of the suspect and ending with the final verdict or appeal. Additionally, procedural guidelines govern other after-measures, such as probation or parole. Some examples of other criminal procedure matters include, but may not be limited to:
- Stop, detention, and arrest;
- Search and seizure;
- Booking and filing charges;
- Suspect and/or eyewitness lineup identifications;
- Appointment of counsel, or assigning a court-appointed lawyer to the defendant when they cannot do so themselves;
- Plea bargaining;
- Evidence;
- Trial;
- Sentencing;
- Appeal; and
- Probation and parole.
What Is A Criminal Retrial? When Is A Criminal Retrial Available?
Under criminal law, most cases never make it to trial; of those that do, a small percentage are retried. Cases may be retried because of serious errors in the original trial when those errors caused an unfair or improper result. Another example of when a case may be retried would include if significant evidence of innocence becomes known.
The 5th Amendment specifically contains the Double Jeopardy Clause, which guarantees that no person shall be tried twice for the same crime. This clause will come into effect if a person is charged with a crime, then found innocent, and then is charged with the same crime again. What this means is that the prosecutor is generally unable to request a retrial unless it is due to some grave mishandling of justice. The Double Jeopardy Clause will be further discussed later on.
The defendant may file a motion for a retrial after a guilty verdict. If the judge denies the motion, the defendant may file an appeal to a higher court asking them to overrule the judge, and grant a new trial. The following are some examples of when a new trial may be granted in the interest of justice:
- Attorney misconduct;
- “Hopelessly deadlocked” jury, meaning that they could not come to a unanimous verdict of guilty or not guilty;
- Prejudicial error which was considered to be unfair and swayed the trial, such as juror misconduct or bias;
- Manifest necessity, which is an unforeseeable and overwhelming circumstance that makes the trial unfair or impossible to reach a fair result. An example of this would be the unavailability of a key witness, illness of counsel, or juror misconduct;
- Newly discovered evidence; and/or
- The judge did not recuse themselves when faced with a conflict of interest.
What Is The Difference Between An Appeal And A Criminal Retrial?
In a legal context, an appeal refers to challenging a previous legal decision. When someone makes an appeal, they are generally asking a higher legal power to review their case. There are two aspects of a criminal conviction which allow for the right to appeal:
- The conviction itself, as in whether or not you are found to be guilty of committing a crime; and
- The sentence, as in your punishment for being found guilty of committing that crime.
The circumstances in which a person has the right to appeal a particular type of decision is determined by each state. However, it is a general rule that if you have been convicted of a crime under criminal laws, then you have the right to appeal that conviction.
There are some cases in which a person may be convicted of a crime, and while they agree that they are guilty of committing that crime, they do not agree that they have been properly or fairly sentenced. While the end result might seem fair and just, the U.S. legal system says it cannot be fair if the steps taken to arrive at the result were wrong or unfair. In these instances, defendants may have the right to an appeal.
Simply put, an appeal is not a new trial of the case in question. Generally, an appeals court will not take into consideration new evidence or new witnesses. Rather, its decisions are based on whether there were errors in the trial’s procedure, or in the judge’s interpretation of the law. This is because an appeals court is concerned with the application of the laws, and not the evidence.
Alternatively, a retrial is a new trial. As such, the following may occur:
- New evidence may be considered;
- New witnesses may testify;
- New attorneys may be involved;
- A new jury will be selected; and
- A new judge may preside over the trial.
A retrial allows you to present an argument that you did not present in the first trial. You are also allowed to skip an argument, such as an argument that was weak or not as effective. Essentially, a retrial will be a completely new trial in which the previous trial will have no impact on the retrial.
An alternative to filing an appeal would be a post-trial motion filed with the court in which the conviction occurred. This asks the court to correct the error that the defendant believes occurred, rather than have the appellate court reverse the decision on appeal. A defining advantage of a post-trial motion is that trial courts prefer to fix their own errors, rather than have the appellate court order an entirely new trial because of those errors.
However, it is important to note that filing a post-trial motion does come with some risk. There is a chance that the trial court could make more points against your position when addressing the motion, which could be used against you during an appeal. If that information helps point out the trial court’s error, it could actually work in your favor.
What Else Should I Know About Double Jeopardy?
To reiterate, the Double Jeopardy Clause of the 5th Amendment guarantees that a person will not be tried twice for the same crime in the same jurisdiction. Double jeopardy occurs if someone is charged with a crime and is found innocent, and is then charged with the same crime a second time.
Double jeopardy protects against three different types of abuses:
- A second prosecution for the same offense after conviction;
- A second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; and
- Multiple punishments for the same offense.
It is important to note that a person can be tried twice based on the same facts, as long as the elements of each crime are different. Additionally, different jurisdictions can charge the same person with the same crime based on the same facts, without violating double jeopardy. An example of this would be how the federal and state governments can try the same defendant for the same conduct, as long as some aspect of the defendant’s conduct violated both a federal and a state law.
Because double jeopardy prohibits only more than one criminal prosecution based on the same facts and same crime, even after a defendant is acquitted criminally, a civil suit may still be brought. This is due to the fact that double jeopardy only applies to criminal cases, and not in civil proceedings. As such, the defendant can only invoke the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy clause when the government has placed the defendant “in jeopardy.” Double jeopardy will attach when the court swears in the jury.
Additionally, double jeopardy will apply if the defendant has been acquitted on the charge or if they are convicted, so that the government cannot retry the defendant on the same crime or a lesser crime that was merged within the crime. An example of this would be how if the defendant was acquitted on robbery charges, the prosecution cannot later try the defendant for larceny associated with the same incident. This is because larceny is a lesser offense of robbery.
Do I Need A Lawyer For A Criminal Retrial?
If you are seeking a retrial, you should work with a new criminal lawyer, especially if your previous attorney engaged in any misconduct in your case.
Your previous attorney is required to transfer all materials to your new lawyer, who can then prepare motions to file with the court and advise you of your rights. Additionally, your criminal attorney will also be able to represent you in court, as needed, throughout the process.
