How the System Works: Misdemeanors in Philadelphia Part II
Yesterday, I wrote about how the Municipal Court of Philadelphia handles misdemeanors starting with the arrest and continuing up the arraignment status hearing. At the arraignment status, the defendant is given his or her trial date. Today, the series continues with the trial phase.
The Municipal Court has the jurisdiction to conduct trials, accept guilty pleas, and impose sentences on misdemeanors — any offense with a maximum punishment of five years or less. On your trial date, a few things can happen. If the defendant decides to accept the plea offer that was made by the District Attorney, then the judge will hear the guilty plea and impose sentence. Technically, the judge can reject the plea offer, but that almost never happens with misdemeanor cases. Typically, the judge just accepts the plea and imposes sentence in accordance with the agreement. If there is no plea offer and the defendant pleads guilty anyway, the judge has the power to impose any sentence he or she wants.
Very few people go to jail for these kinds of offenses. Those who do are usually repeat offenders. For the most common cases — Retail Theft, Drug Possession, or Disorderly Conduct — the court orders probation. Probation is a program that allows people who have been convicted of a crime to stay out of jail as long as he or she obeys some rules. The rules can be pretty basic — don’t do drugs, keep the appointments with your probation officer, and stay out of any more trouble. If a probationer disobeys these rules, he or she can be sent to jail.
There is one misdemeanor crime, however that has a mandatory jail sentence — Driving Under the Influence of alcohol (DUI). Mandatory, unfortunately, means exactly that — it is mandatory and the judge has no discretion at all. First offenders can avoid jail if they qualify for ARD, which I have written about before. However, people who been convicted of DUI before cannot get the benefit of ARD. They must either win at trial or go to jail — in some cases, the minimum jail term is one year!
Which leads to tomorrow’s post — how trials are conducted in the Municipal Court. Here’s something to ponder on that point: there is no jury.
If the case doesn’t plead, then there will be a trial, and that will be discussed tomorrow.