Bucks County Preliminary Hearings

As we've previously discussed in Part 1, there is a lot to do in the Preliminary Hearing in Bucks County.  

If your Bucks County Criminal Defense Lawyer has been unable to negotiate an adequate/satisfactory resolution, you will have a hearing.  

99% of the time you will not testify at your Preliminary Hearing in Bucks County.  The purpose of the Preliminary Hearing is for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to prove that it is "more likely than not" that you committed the crimes you were charged with.  Put in a more legal way, the Commonwealth has the burden to prove a "prima facie" case at the Preliminary Hearing.  This "burden" is NOT beyond a reasonable doubt.  That is a trial burden.  

The Commonwealth will have their arresting officer, witnesses, and other relevant evidence presented to prove their initial step of establishing a prima facie case  

Standard of Evidence/Proof

If your case involves credibility (i.e. a witness or police officer lied), it is unlikely that you will have the charges dismissed at the Preliminary Hearing.  Why?  Because, at the Preliminary Hearing, the District Justice must look upon all Commonwealth evidence in a favorable light.  

But, is all hope lost?  Absolutely not.  Sometimes, a case can be dismissed because of a corpus issues.  Other times, a Preliminary Hearing in Bucks County helps establish a record, captured by a stenographer that your Bucks County Criminal Defense Lawyers scheduled, which will capture testimony that can be used later in your defense.  

For example, if a witness lied at the Preliminary Hearing, you can use the Notes of Testimony from the Preliminary Hearing to later call into question their credibility.