If you are arrested for a criminal charge or DUI in Tennessee , you are entitled to have a preliminary hearing . A preliminary hearing is to determine whether there is probable cause that a crime has been committed. The key question is whether you should testify at that hearing in your defense.
Last week
Wayne Gretzky was one of the best hockey players ever to put on skates. He had a great line which is the title to this post "You miss 100% of the shots you never take.’ That advice is very true for criminal defense lawyers. A criminal defense attorney must take the shot early and often.
South Carolina criminal defense attorney Bobby Frederick recently reported of Horry County , South Carolina public defenders who don’t go to preliminary hearings . It appears the public defenders refuse to go to court on preliminary hearings . The court refuses to hear their case because they have a court appointed attorney and the hearing
In Tennessee criminal courts , we hear the word " Probable Cause’" used a lot.
Probable cause is a legal term of art that means a constitutionally prescribed standard of proof.Probable cause is the burden of proof necessary for the issuance of an indictment or an arrest warrant.
This is the standard of proof required
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lFTV2ccKAnk%26hl%3Den_US%26fs%3D1%26
The Chinese strategist Sun Tzu has written on the five factors from which victory can be obtained. One principle is "One who, fully prepared, awaits the unprepared will be victorious."
One of the best tools to achieve that teaching of being prepared is the preliminary hearing.
Everyday I see criminal lawyers in various counties waving