PieterCoetzee
Professional
I think were dancing around the same tune. When a suspect is arrested for a felony, (in Maryland), he is taken to a Court Commissioner for a Bail Hearing. At that time he is given the opportunity to request a Preliminary Hearing (if he isnt sure at that time, I believe he has 3 (?) days to request it). In my experience most did not request a Preliminary hearing at the Bail Hearing
After the Bail Hearing (IF the defendant did not Bail out), there is a Bail review in front of a judge on the next court day. I never attended a Bail Review; but I suspect the judge also advises the defendant about his right to a Preliminary Hearing (?)
How the DA handles the charges after the Bail Review, is I suppose dependent on the the strength of the probable cause and any political issues (murder, rape, grand theft, etc). As I said previously I was summoned to many more Grand Juries then Prelims.
Yes Grand Juries are typically predisposed to see the states side, since thats the view of the case presented to them and a more colourful description of the events could be presented without anyone to object. I once described the location as the kind of place where a discarded toilet has been sitting on the front lawn for 6 months....It was true but I wouldnt have gotten that out with a defense attorney present.
Ultimately the system is designed to get defendants to plead out cases with the weight of the state leveraged against them. I very much tried to keep that in mind when policing OTOH there did seem to be a large group of buttheads too stupid to plan a good crime. We always said, if they were smart we probably wouldnt catch them
