If you are held for court, the next step in the process is arraignment. In most counties and in Philadelphia, very little happens at arraignment, and most private lawyers will waive arraignment so that you do not have to appear.
Possible Outcomes Of The Preliminary Hearing The most prevalent outcome of a preliminary hearing is that the judge finds probable cause to charge you. If so, then you will be held to answer for the charges and the matter is transferred within the next 15 days to trial court for all further proceedings10.
Preliminary hearings serve to protect the defendant from unfounded criminal charges—making sure the prosecutor has sufficient evidence to allow a criminal trial to go forward.
A preliminary investigation is an inquiry or proceeding to determine whether there is a sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that a crime has been committed and the respondent is probably guilty thereof and should be held for trial.
Who needs to attend? Other than in exceptional cases, the representatives from both parties must be in attendance at a preliminary hearing. Where the Tribunal need to decide a preliminary issue, witnesses may also need to attend.
If a party wishes a hearing to be postponed for any reason the Employment Judge who considers the request will have to be satisfied that it is in accordance with the overriding objective to order that the hearing be postponed. referring to all other parties, where there is more than one other party in the case.
The court may set any criminal case for a pre-trial hearing before it is set for trial. A pre-trial is a meeting with the state's attorney and the defendant and/or his or her attorney to determine the following: Any motions that the defendant or defendant's attorney wants to file.
If the defendant is in custody at the arraignment, the trial must start within 30 days of arraignment or plea, whichever is later. If the defendant is not in custody at the arraignment, the trial must start within 45 days of arraignment or plea, whichever is later.