Hey everybody! From what I understand you guys work with mega-threads instead of various smaller threads. Which I'm not very fond of because to hell I'm going to read 75 pages of 2 month old content...
I posted this text and it got locked, with references to this mega-thread. So I'll repost it here instead.
I'm a 21 years old paralegal from Montreal QC, diplomated in Paralegal Technology from the biggest college in Montreal. I have knowledge of the criminal system of Canada which is really similar to the one in the U.S., and in this case Virginia. They both come from the British Common Law. I am not acquainted with Virginia's Criminal Code and Jurisprudence toward's Chris felonies and sentences. I would like to remark that my first language is French, so you may encounter some errors in this text. Please point them gently and I will fix them.
I have been following Chris' ridiculous adventures since my first exposure to this circus of a person (and by that I mean the hilarious kind of circus, not the awesome one that sings
Alegria and has hot flexible chicks in spandex costumes) around 2009-2010, when I learned about him in Linkara's «Top 10 things he won't review». I've always been a lurker when it comes to Chris because it simply pops up in my RSS feeds between a lot of other informations, especially federal politics in which, during this electoral year, I have an active role in a well known political party (hint: it has a Trudeau in it).
PRELUDE
Ever since Chris has been arrested on December 26th I have readt in this forum that he might go to jail as early as... yesterday. Which is in my opinion complete baloney. This is not how the criminal system works and as far as we are all concerned Chris has been released three days after his arrest in exchange for a bail. He has been considered not dangerous to the general population and hence he should be relatively free for the entirety of the procedure. However there is the possibility (this is where my expertise fade) that he cannot leave the U.S. or the State of Virginia. in Canada, Chris would not be able to leave Canada but would be able to travel in other provinces.
This part is simple: a crime or a felony is committed, a police inquiry begins, the police dossier is sent to the District Attorney which contact the victim and asks if he/she wants to press charges. Once charges as pressed by the victim, the District Attorney studies the case and determines if it has enough evidence to file charges.
the subject is arrested and jailed temporarily once arrested.
ARRAIGNMENTS
What happened yesterday was the Arraignment. Chris has been brought up in front of the Judge and has been readt his charges pending against him. This is an accusatory system which means Chris is innocent until proved otherwise. In Canada the Arraignment happens the very day you are arrested because charges are pulled by the Attorney General of the province you committed the crime. You enter a plea the very day you are arrested.
In the US the charges are pressed by the victim which can retract them (something that cannot be done in Canada, once the victim presses charges he can no longer retract them), even though, unlike Classical Roman stuff and DEFINITELY unlike civil cases, the victim is not in charge of the dossier, the DA is.
For this reason U.S. arraignment as split in two, once between 24-72 hours (depending on the state) of your arrest, in which the Judge set the bail. Another time later, in which the defendant enters a plea.
To be honest I prefer the Canadian way because, like for pretty much everything, anything Federal in Canada is short and sweet while everything Provincial is a clusterfuck of procedures. However, the U.S. version allows for more mediation between the defense and the DA.
So now the second arraignment has been delayed. It happens sometimes, especially when the defendant is not is a good psyche or has issues with its attorney(s). I refer you to the active case of Richard Henry Bain, the man that killed a sound technician and tried to murder the Premier of Québec back in 2012.
On the second Arraignment Chris will plea Guilty or not. Even if Chris' attorney believes it is a better idea to make a plea bargain, Chris is in full control and his attorney has to do what his client asks. What Chris' attorney must do however is to calm down his client and reason him (good fucking luck!) If Chris wants to plea non guilty, and he probably will, that's his choice and his attorney will have to follow. and so the procedures.
An insanity plea counts as a non-guilty plea. It means the defendant acknowledges the crime, but relies on the fact that at the time of the felony he was inapt. This can backfire on epic proportions: Chris could be declared innocent but dangerous to himself and to society, his case sent to an Administrative Tribunal and could be interned in a coo-coo house. Examples: the Guy Turcotte case.
Also, like in a civil case, the parties themselves will set a procedural calendar together and submit it to the judge which will accept or refuse, depending on his own agenda. That's my job
PRELIMINARY HEARING & HELD TO ANSWER
Now remember the dossier itself has been in numerous hands and has been reviewed numerous times: by the police, then by the District Attorney.. not it is time to send the dossier itself to the Judge for his review. This is the preliminary hearing. The Judge and the defense will ask questions concerning the case and the proofs. The Judge will accept or reject charges. If there is still charges going on after the preliminary hearing, a third and final arraignment will take place in which Chris will enter another plea.
To be noted: 99.9% of the time the accused is NOT there for the preliminary hearing, unless he is imprisoned during trial. If any of you has the intention to listen to this, you probably won't see Chris. What you will hear is what stands against him. in criminal trials the proofs must be made WITHOUT ANY REASONABLE DOUBTS.
This is also where the District Attorney stops gathering evidences. Once the Preliminary Hearing is over, nothing new can be shown as evidence. evidences can be pictures, videos, the weapon itself, police deposition, witnesses, expert-witness.
The held to answer is the response of the defendant to the evidences: aka trying to put a doubt in the Judge's mind. If the plea is insanity, however, the defense's evidence should be expert-witness based (a Psychiatrist).
TRIAL
The parties will set a date for the trial and submit it to the judge. Like I said: that's a paralegal job. The Courtroom world is very small and everybody knows each other. So even though the District Attorney is our adversary in this case, he's also our colleague and probably our friend. Everything is very civil between the parties. They're still both part of the same Bar after all and probably of the same local attorney community (you know... for networking and cocktails...)
Again: Chris is in full command and we have to do what he says. Again, he has a choice: With or without jury and can change his mind on the fly as much as he wants. This makes no difference for the trial itself, it changes the sentencing.
In my honest opinion, Chris has more chances of being acquitted if he asks for a Jury. Jurors MUST be completely profane when it comes to the Law, they only examine and valuate the facts surrounding the felony. I would say that because he's a cross-dressing autistic weirdo that got arrested for pepper-spraying a video-game re-seller employee over the recolor of a blue hedgehog's arms, he has a better chance to be acquitted and to be declared insane, thus the transfer to the administrative tribunal and thus the internment... Juror duty is factual and humane.
Court trial is in front of the Judge and the Judge only. Judges tend to give verdicts based on pure legal points and precedents. Thus because the evidences are crystal clear when it comes to this particular case, Chris would be sent to jail/prison (I have no knowledge of the U.S. system when it comes to jails) pretty much immediately.
GUILTY, SENTENCING
Unlike what you see on television, Chris should not be sentenced on the fly by the Judge, directly after the verdict, nor should he be taken into custody. In fact, even after proven guilty, he's probably going back home and wait for, at last, a sentencing.
While the Judge decides of the sentence by himself, he will ask the District Attorney for his opinion: this is where there is still a slim change for a plea bargaining. Chris' attorney's job is to reduce as much as he can the sentence, while the DA's job is to ask the most insanely ridiculous sentence as he can. Precedents will be used as some kind of proof. The case will be compared to other cases and tagged in a particular category, ready to be used as a precedent itself (so yes, in a probable future other attorneys in Virginia may use the case of a 32 years old cross dressing autistic man-child as a precedent... I've readt worse, like a woman who thought the former Premier of Québec Jean Charest talked to her like God talked to Joan of Arc).
Chris will be summoned, the sentence will be readt to him and if he goes to jail, this is where he is taken into custody...
APPEAL
In Canada you can appeal within 30 days and it is an appeal of FULL RIGHT, meaning the Appeal Courts (they have various names depending on the provinces) have no choices but to receive the appeal and hear your plea. I have no idea how it works in the U.S. but their procedure is relatively the same.
Whether it is civil or criminal, the appeal is the same. It is not a continuation of the trial, it is a trial of the trial. If the defendant thinks the Judge has made an error, either of law or of facts, that's where he goes. If the appeal is accepted a new trial will be held with a different judge, if rejected nothing happens, except everybody lost their time and their money in a pointless battle.
There's also appeal on the sentencing, in this case the Court of Appeal will only modify the sentence and no new trial will be held.
Courts of Appeal don't give a crap about facts. this is pure legal baloney. If this case goes up to Appeal Chris would never set foot in this courtroom and you would be completely alienated by what's going on.
That was criminal procedure 101. Expect things to go very... very slowly... it can take months, or years, depending on the case.
