Misdemeanor Process for Tulsa County

---

Though this is specific to Tulsa County, this will be the same general process that other counties in Oklahoma follow.

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, referred to as the Jury Trial Sounding Docket. The Jury Trial Sounding Docket setting will generally be within 30 days of the date of arraignment.

JURY TRIAL SOUNDING DOCKET

The Jury Trial Sounding Docket setting, or JTS, is the first setting that the defense has a chance to negotiate with the prosecution to possibly resolve the matter. From this point the case will go one of three directions: 1) plea bargain 2) motion hearing 3) trial. The decision on which of these options to take is up to the defendant and only them and should only be made after discussing all the options with their attorney.

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 misdemeanor case can occur at any time after the arraignment and all the way up to trial in some circumstances. 

MOTION HEARING

A motion hearing is used when there is an issue in the case that the defense feels needs to be ruled on by a judge before continuing towards a plea bargain or trial. Procedurally, the motion hearing is a mini trial on the issue that the defense feels needs ruled on.  For example, the defense might request a motion hearing to suppress evidence that was the result of a defective search warrant. At this hearing, testimony will be heard and the prosecution and defense counsel will both make legal argument to the Judge who will rule on the issue. If the Judge rules in the defendant’s favor, the evidence will be suppressed, the case may be dismissed, or possibly reduced to a lesser charge by the prosecution, or the prosecution could decide to pursue the case without that evidence. If the case is dismissed the defendant will be free to go. If the case is not dismissed the defendant has the option of entering into a plea bargain or setting the case for trial.

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.

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.