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.

This post is the first in a series explaining how the system works in Pennsylvania, and we begin with misdemeanors in Philadelphia.

A misdemeanor is historically a relatively minor offense, and include any offense punishable by up to five years in prison. The most common misdemeanors include theft, DUI, simple assault, drug possession, and disorderly conduct.

The process begins, obviously, when someone calls the police to complain about a person’s behavior and an arrest is made. The police bring the person to the police station where he or she is processed (fingerprints, mug shot, warrant check, et cetera). Then the person is taken to a bail commissioner — a quasi-judge whose only function is to set bail. In 99% of misdemeanor cases, bail will be unsecured or release on recognizances (ROR). Unsecured bail or ROR bail require no money down, but release may have conditions attached, such as “no contact with the complainant” or “stay out of the Gallery mall.” If bail is unsecured, the person will be released. The whole bail process might take 8 – 12 hours before you are released.

Misdemeanor cases then go to the Municipal Court of Philadelphia. The Municipal Court has jurisdiction to conduct bench trials in misdemeanors, but only preliminary hearings in felony cases. The two kinds of cases are handled completely differently.

The first court date after the bail hearing is usually called arraignment status. Despite the name, this is neither your arraignment, nor a status conference. In fact, it is entirely likely that you will not see a judge at all. If you have an attorney, your lawyer will receive discovery from the district attorney. Discovery is, basically, a copy of all the evidence against the defendant. For example, suppose a person is charged with simple assault following a fight — typically the discovery in this kind of case includes the complainant’s statements to the police, possibly photos of the complainant’s injuries, the statements of other witnesses, and information about the defendant such as his or her criminal history, or whatever statements the defendant made to the police. By the way, a suspect should never talk to the police! Whatever you say will be used against you — even if you deny it!

At the arraignment status, the District Attorney will sometimes make a plea offer to your defense attorney. A plea offer is a proposal — the DA can agree to a particular sentence (like probation) or to drop some charges in exchange for a guilty plea. The defendant does not need to decide right then. If the defendant does not have an attorney, the DA may not make a plea offer — the rules of ethics do not permit prosecutors to negotiate with unrepresented defendants. This is yet another reason why you should never go to court without a lawyer — if you do not have an attorney, you can either plead guilty without any promises or go to trial. With a lawyer, you can have a promise from the DA to consider and either accept or reject.

A defendant with an attorney will be told when his or her next court date is, called the trial date and be allowed to leave. Defendants without a lawyer will have to wait to see the judge before being given a court date.

Tomorrow, I will write about what happens when a misdemeanor goes to trial before the Municipal Court. If you have been arrested for a misdemeanor in Philadelphia and would to talk to an attorney, call Charles Thomas at 877-397-3003.

The person knows he or she did wrong and is relieved not to be going to jail. Years go by and the person has forgotten about his or her youthful indiscretion.

Until he or she gets turned down for a job, a mortgage, or a professional license because an old criminal conviction that resurfaced following a criminal background check. For example, forty-six states plus the District of Columbia require criminal background checks for health workers.

The fact of the matter is that although many people who find themselves hauled up on charges repeatedly and never seem to learn their lesson, many times more are people who make one mistake and learn from it. These are the people for whom pre-trial diversion is appropriate.

A pre-trial diversion is a program that moves the case off the court calendar for a period of time, usually a year. During that time the defendant may be on probation or doing community service. If they complete the program successfully, the charges are dismissed.

Dismissal means no conviction and a clean record. Usually, any trace of the offense can be wiped off the record and nothing will show in a criminal background check.

In Pennsylvania, pre-trial diversion is known as Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition — ARD. Each county District Attorney sets the rules for the county, and each county is different. Neighboring counties, therefore, can have vastly different rules for the program. For example, in Montgomery County, PA, no drug offense is eligible for ARD, but next door in both Bucks County and Philadelphia, drug possession charges can be admitted to ARD (not drug dealing, however). Furthermore, each county has its own application procedures — Montgomery and Bucks use ARD application forms, while Philadelphia makes the admission decision during plea negotiations in most case, no form necessary.

While you don’t necessarily need an attorney to get into ARD, having a lawyer who knows the ins and outs of the system makes it a lot easier. After all, with each D.A. deciding the rules for each county, that means there are 67 different sets of rules out there. While the urge to admit your mistake and move on is strong (and admirable, I might add), doing so can have devastating consequences for years to come.

If you have been charged with an offense and would like to discuss your options, including ARD, call me, attorney Charles Thomas at 877-397-3003.