Q: Why is it that a lawyer wouldn’t show up for a pre-indictment hearing?
Today was my fiancés pre-indictment hearing, we have been waiting to hear about any discovery found, the strength of the evidence (which as we know it isn’t too strong), the possible charges, etc. However the lawyer did not show and the pre-indictment hearing was literally under five minutes and he now will be indicted by a grand jury. Just a little confused.
A: There may not have been a pre indictment offer and the prosecutor was simply going to grand jury. The PIC is a way for prosecutors to offer a discount on the sentence in exchange for not having to go to GJ. So it may have been a really bad or no offer. You are also provided very cursory discovery at this point. Its kind of like betting before you see the cards.
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A: If you paid your lawyer he/she should have appeared for the hearing. It is an important hearing, but generally your lawyer would have already spoken to the prosecutor and some lawyers even go to the court house to pickup that discovery also prior to the hearing because many hearings today are not done in court and we don't want to wait for the mail. So the things you are talking about your lawyer should probably already know. That being said a good lawyer will never skip a hearing especially if he did not tell you about this in advance and give you a good reason on why.
1 user found this answer helpful
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