Description

The first judicial appearance of the defendant is called the preliminary hearing (or, in some States, the commitment hearing or the examining trial). This is the proceeding described in §§ 2.3.3-2.3.5, 2.4.2 supra. A magistrate (or a justice of the peace, municipal court judge, or other member of the minor judiciary) usually presides, although in most jurisdictions judges of courts of record also have statutory authority to sit as committing magistrates (see § 11.6.2 infra). Arrested defendants are brought before the magistrate for a preliminary hearing shortly after arrest. See §§ 11.1.1, 11.1.2, 11.2 infra. Summoned defendants are required by the summons to appear before the magistrate.

First Page

297

Source Publication

Trial Manual 11 for the Defense of Criminal Cases

Source Editors/Authors

Anthony G. Amsterdam, Randy A. Hertz

Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Chapter

Edition

11

Rights & Restrictions

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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