| Opening Statements during a Criminal Trial |
| In a criminal proceeding each side has the opportunity to present an opening statement to the judge or jury. The prosecution presents its opening statement first and then the defendant presents his opening statement. In some states, the trial judge permits the defendant to defer giving his opening statement until the close of the prosecution's case. If there are multiple defendants being tried in one case, each attorney may give an opening statement for each defendant. More... |
| Preliminary Determinations of Admissibility of Evidence |
| Generally speaking legal issues are to be determined by the trial court and factual issues are to be determined by a jury or judge if no jury is present. However, either the judge or the jury may determine preliminary determinations of facts. More... |
| JURY INSTRUCTIONS ON ACCOMPLICE WITNESSES |
| An accomplice is a person who participates in a criminal offense with which a defendant is being charged. An accomplice may participate before, during, or after the defendant's commission of the offense. An accomplice who testifies at a defendant's trial is deemed to be suspicious because of his or her participation in the offense. Therefore, most states have enacted the accomplice witness rule. More... |
| Customs Fraud |
| What Constitutes Customs Fraud Fraud is defined as an intentional perversion of the truth to induce another individual into believing or doing something that they would not otherwise do. Fraud is an intentional crime. More... |
| HARASSMENT & STALKING |
| A person commits the offense of harassment when he or she performs any of the following acts with the intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another person: (1) when he or she initiates a communication with the other person by telephone, in writing, or electronically and makes an obscene comment or suggestion; (2) when he or she threatens by telephone, in writing, or electronically to inflict bodily injury on the other person or to commit a felony against the other person, a member of his or her family, or his or her property; (3) when he or she conveys a false report to the other person that another person has died or has been seriously injured.More... |
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