Pretrial Conferences in Marion County/Indianapolis Criminal Courts
Transcript:
In this video, I'm gonna be talking about Marion County, Indiana specifically, and how they handle pre-trial conferences in criminal cases in their courts. A lot of people may not know what to expect during the criminal court process, but this video is designed to help you know more. So about me, my name's Nathan Vining, I'm a criminal defense attorney in Indianapolis, and I represent people in criminal cases throughout the state, and have a lot of experience working in Marion County specifically. By the end of this video, you should know more about what to expect in your Marion County pre-trial conference.
So here is an overview of the Marion County Criminal Court process. The first hearing is the initial hearing. It's followed by a pre-trial conference, the omnibus hearing, final pre-trial conference, and ultimately, you end up doing a guilty plea or a trial, and then going to a sentencing. There are three things you typically cover in a pre-trial conference, and the first is discovery issues. Are there things for your case that you need that you don't have yet? For instance, in a DUI, you wanna check to see if there's any lab results back for blood tests. Or you may need to talk to the prosecutor about scheduling depositions. You also wanna check for plea offers. The state may have not made an offer in your case yet, so you wanna check with the state to see if they have an offer. Or if they don't, can they get one to you soon, so you have a starting point in your case?
And last, the court's gonna wanna know what they need to schedule you for next. And a lot of times, that's just continuing the matter out for another pre-trial conference. If you have an attorney or if you hire us, we would handle this process for you, but there's also a few other things that you should know or consider during the pre-trial conference. First, Marion County has mandatory discovery rules. So you don't need to request formal discovery here. But sometimes, there's certain filings that need to happen by certain dates. For instance, if you're gonna plead self-defense or an alibi, certain affirmative defenses need to be pled by certain dates in your case. So at this first pre-trial conference, you wanna be checking to see if there's any mandatory filings that are needed so you don't miss any deadlines.
Second, that there's a bit to know about the process in Marion County. Pre-trials are done different county by county, and even court by court. In Marion County, you're gonna see one of two things. First, it can be done informally. And this is what's known as doing the pre-trial off record. It's where you or your attorney goes and talks to the prosecutor directly, discusses what needs to happen, and then agrees to continue the pre-trial out to another date or set a different type of hearing. This is known as an off-record continuance of the pre-trial conference. The second thing, is that the court may conduct it formally. And some courts only have formal pre-trial conferences. And this is where your case is called up individually and you and your attorney and the prosecutor appear before the judge and talk about what's happened in the case, what needs to happen, and if you need the courts to help with anything, or any specific matters. And then you also determine what's gonna be set next. Is it gonna be another pre-trial conference, a plea hearing, or a trial or even some other type of hearing?
It's also important to understand that there's usually a couple of pre-trial conferences in case. Typically, it's continued two to three times. And that's sometimes 'cause there's need for further negotiations, need for further discovery, and a lot of times, the prosecutor is busy, so it really takes getting in there in person and tracking them down to get new answers and things done in the case. So don't be surprised if you end up having to attend a couple of pre-trial conferences in your case. But also remember that with an attorney, we can also help limit your appearances as well, and we can request that these happen as an attorneys-only conference, so that way, you don't have to appear, or we can continue things out and try and negotiate out of court as well.
So as an overview, when you're going to a pre-trial conference in Marion County, make sure that you're getting your discovery or asking where it's at. Also, make sure you have your plea, or if you don't have a plea, make sure that you're asking for one and trying to move the case forward. And then third, make sure you leave knowing your next court date, so you know when you need to appear next. And also, don't feel pressured at taking any plea that's offered. If you have questions about it, you could give me a call. I'd be happy to review it and let you know if it's a good deal or not, or let you know if I think I could do anything to help.
So again, my name is Nathan Vining. You can watch more videos to learn more about the criminal court process in Marion County, or call me or text me if you have questions.