Felony Process for Tulsa County

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While this is specific to Tulsa County, this will also be generally applicable to the surrounding counties.

ARRAIGNMENT

The first court appearance after an arrest and charges are filed is called the arraignment or initial appearance. The most important part of the arraignment is that the defendant appears to answer the charges against them. It will be here that the court informs the defendant of the crime that they are being charged with and enters a not guilty plea on their behalf. After which the court will give the defendant a new court date, their Preliminary Hearing. The Preliminary Hearing setting will generally be within 14 days of the date of arraignment.

PLEA BARGAIN

Unlike on TV where everything goes to trial, most cases here in the real world are resolved through plea bargains. A plea bargain is simply an agreement between the Prosecution and the defense that provides a resolution to the case without it having to go all the way to trial. A plea bargain in a felony case can occur at any time after the arraignment and all the way up to trial in some circumstances. 

PRELIMINARY HEARING

The Preliminary Hearing is often referred to as a “mini trial” where the prosecution will provide witnesses and evidence to a magistrate judge to prove that there is probable cause to believe a crime was committed and probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the crime. This is as low of a standard as it sounds. Probably a crime was committed and probably the defendant committed it. If the prosecution meets this burden, the defendant will be bound-over for District Court Arraignment.

DISTRICT COURT ARRAIGNMENT

District Court Arraignment, or DCA, is very similar to the initial arraignment with the exception that this appearance is the first time that a defendant will meet the Judge who will handle the case through trial if necessary. At DCA the court will again inform the defendant of the charges against them and set a date for what is referred to as an Allen Hearing.

ALLEN HEARING

An Allen Hearing is used by the court to ensure that the defendant has received all of the evidence, referred to as discovery, concerning the case. The defendant has the right to obtain evidence that the prosecution is going to use against them, including but not limited to relevant police reports, search warrants that were issued, and the names of the witnesses that the Prosecution plans to present. If the Prosecution has turned over all the evidence, both the Prosecution and defendant will announce that discovery is complete or if it has not, the court will set a new Allen Hearing date and order the Prosecution to turn over the discovery by that date.

PRETRIAL MOTIONS

Defendant’s counsel may choose to file certain motions prior to the trial. If the defense files a motion prior to trial the court will set a hearing date at which time the court will rule on the issue presented in the motion. Motions may be filed for many reasons which are too numerous to mention.

TRIAL

The trial is composed of the jury selection, followed by the opening statement from the defense and the prosecution, the presentation of both side’s evidence, the jury instructions, the closing arguments and finished up with jury deliberation.

Jury Selection: Also known as Voir Dire, is done through a question-and-answer process where both the prosecution and the defense will choose a jury from a panel of individuals that were summoned for Jury Duty. 

Opening Statements: Are statements made to the jury by both the prosecution and the defense that will outline the case and give the jury an initial picture of where the trial is going.

Presentation of Evidence: This is the part that TV loves to show and what most people would imagine when thinking of a trial. This portion involves the calling of witnesses and presentation of any physical evidence by both the prosecution and defense.

Jury Instructions: At this point the Judge will instruct the jury on the law that is applicable to the case. Instructing the jury quite literally means reading the applicable jury instructions to the jury.

Closing Arguments: This is where the prosecution and defense will argue their interpretation of the evidence to the jury and rest their case.

Deliberation: This is the part on TV where the court sends the jury out of the courtroom where they will attempt to reach a decision in the case.