Prosecution and defense

bring a prosecution, prosecution counsel, public prosecutor,

district attorney, DA, go on trial, stand trial, defendant, defense counsel

In some countries the public prosecutor for each area decides which prosecutions should be brought: who should be prosecuted by the state, and for what. In the United States, district attorneys, or DAs, do this.

Someone facing prosecution in a court of law is a defendant. When defendants go on trial or stand trial they answer the charges against them. A defendant is represented by defense lawyers or counsel, and the lawyers trying to prove that the offences took place are the prosecution lawyers or prosecution counsel.

Legal adjectives.

Matters relating to, say, divorce are of course dealt with in a civil court rather than a criminal court. More serious criminal offenses are said to be indictable, i.e. they are tried by indictment in a higher level of court, while summary offenses are less serious and can be tried in a lower court. If a worker feels that his or her statutory rights have been infringed, then he or she may take the case to a tribunal, where an arbitrator has discretionary powers to rule on the dispute. The arbitrator’s decision is binding on both sides – they have to abide by his or her decision.

1. Answer the questions?

1. If someone sues you because they tripped on the stairs in your house, would the case be heard in a criminal or a civil court?

2. Would a murder be an indictable or a summary offence?

3. If a contract is binding what does that mean for the signatories, i.e. the people who signed it?

4. How could a fine or other punishment be described if a magistrate is free to decide whether to award it or not?

Guilty or not guilty

plead, plead guilty, plead not-guilty, plea, plea bargaining

Defendants are asked to plead guilty or not guilty: to say if they committed the offenses they are charged with or not.

Guilty and not guilty are pleas. Plea bargaining is a system where prosecutors agree to bring less serious charges in return for a guilty plea.

1. Put together five news stories, each made up of two of these extracts.

a) Both men have pleaded not guilty, and the case, which is expected to last at least four weeks, is a continuing.

b) He lost and received a sentence of 12 years.

c) He pleaded guilty to being twice the limit.

d) In Anderson, Indiana, a burglary defendant refused a plea bargain agreement that would have given him 90 days in jail. He went to trial.

e) Last Friday, Exxon pleaded guilty to four criminal charges in federal court as part of a plea bargain with the justice department.

f) Mr. Nutting said that Eamonn Wadleigh allowed his premises to be used for the IRA team passing on driving licenses and letters in false names.

g) Neil, 54, and Michael Tailor, 26, both from London, and Norma Boxall, of Croydon, Surrey, had all denied the charge.

h) Seven co-defenders (сообвиняемые) also pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey and their trial continues.

i) Soccer star Kevin Dillon was handed a three-year ban (запрет) yesterday for drink-driving. The former Newcastle United captain was arrested near home at Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear.

j) The judge in this case, however, wants to hear from the victims of the spill before he accepts the plea agreement.