A 911 Phone Call Is What Starts It All
Video Transcribed: This is Wagoner Attorney Stuart Ericson. So how are charges filed in a criminal case?
Well, first of all, something has to get to law enforcement’s attention. It could be either from a 911 call, either from the victim themselves, or from a third party. It could be from anybody. Somebody calling 911 is going to bring law enforcement out there. Another thing could be a lot of police departments you can email or submit criminal referral forms or a phone call to just the law enforcement itself. So basically, usually there’s an incident, somebody discovers a crime after the facts and they call the police. Or a crime is occurring and somebody calls 911 right away. Because a lot of times people are confused, like the victim will say of an attack, say, “I didn’t call 911. Why is there an investigation?” Well, somebody else did. If a neighbor or an innocent bystander or a third party calls the police, they’re going to come out, and they’re going to investigate.
That’s essentially what gets it started. Then what happens is the law enforcement agency, whether it be the police or the sheriff’s department, they conduct an investigation. It could consist of taking interviews of any alleged victims, or any witnesses, taking pictures of the crime scene, collecting evidence, and sending it off to labs, either for DNA or fingerprints or ballistics reports if there’s a gun involved. So they will collect evidence, take photographs, conduct interviews, and do whatever else they do to conduct an investigation. And at that time, if a person is a suspect, nothing’s going to be happening at that point in time, usually. Especially if you’re not there at the scene. Now, if you’re there at the scene, a lot of times arrests are made right then and there based upon a probable cause arrest. But if the suspect is gone, then the investigation is going to have to happen.
At that point in time, the law enforcement agency basically reduces all of their investigations down to writing a report. That report can allege certain crimes from that law enforcement agency’s perspective. So they’ll kind of put suggested charges. And even if you’re arrested at the scene, they may say, “Hey, you’re arrested for assault and battery in the presence of a minor child.” Or, “You’re arrested for robbery with a firearm.” So anyway, that report then goes to the appropriate district attorney’s office. There’s an elected district attorney for every county. And underneath that district attorney, there are assistant DAs. So that report will go to that office. It’ll usually be assigned to an assistant district attorney. They will review the report. They will read it, and then they have options as well. They can just flat-out decline to prosecute or file charges.
They could read the report and go, “No crime here, not going to file charges.” They could send it back for further investigation. They could say, “I’m not ready to file this, there are too many holes.” Or you can go get more information or they can send it back. The last thing they can do, of course, is just to go ahead and file the charges. Now, the final decision maker on filing charges is the DA’s office. It’s not law enforcement. So if somebody says, “Hey, I was arrested for assault and battery domestic against my spouse,” and that’s what law enforcement says, that’s what you’re told. And then you go to court and you get assault and battery with domestic abuse in the presence of a minor child. Well, the assistant DA might have added that. They might have changed the charges because they’re the final decision maker on what is filed and what is not.
And so, once they file the charges, it’s taken to a judge, they sign off on it, and then they basically, of course, ask for a bench warrant for that person’s arrest. So at that point in time, again, this is assuming the person’s not arrested at the scene. This is somebody who is not arrested at the scene. The report goes to the DA’s office, it’s signed by a judge. There’s a bench warrant out for your arrest. And at that time, you could be picked up at any time upon this bench warrant. It could be they actively go out and find you and arrest you. It could be that they don’t, and the next time you’re pulled over for a speeding ticket or any sort of offense and they run a check and go, “Hey, you have a warrant up for your arrest.” All of a sudden you’re going in.
So that is basically the process. And of course, people have a lot of questions about that. Basically, what if the report, the alleged victim is just one person, it’s their word? Well, that sometimes happens. If it goes up to the DA’s office and they file charges, that can be the case. It doesn’t always seem fair, doesn’t seem right, and there can be a lot of questions about it. So, that’s the general process.
If you have any questions from an Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer, reach out to me at wagonerlawyer.com.
