KC Ashmore here we're talking about Texas crime and Texas consequences- so what happens when plea bargains or plea deals are a no-go.
You have exhausted all of or rejected all of your possible plea bargain agreements and there's nothing left to do except have these final pre-trial battles. These final pre-trial hearings over contested matters like motions to suppress evidence was the stop righteous, such that there was or was not probable cause that led to extending the detention for a reasonable period leading to further investigation and then ultimately some sort of a search or some sort of a arrest.
A detention and then an arrest where all the steps followed, did the state have probable cause through its agent the law enforcement officer to go through that process and then arrest the defendant correctly? Those battles are had usually at the end of plea negotiations, so you know this process is designed to actually be pretty quick because we do have a guaranteed right to a speedy trial and you know speedy trial can be a lot of things in the state of Texas.
It is then and it's usually anything but speedy, but time is rarely your friend in this situation. Speediness is rare because you do need a moment to to get into the facts, you do need a moment to start thinking about defensive theories, and while extended delays things caused by the covid pandemic, those delays really extend out the the trial process. But the fact of the matter is that that allows for the opportunity to dig into these facts, to to sharpen the saw, to prepare for the battle to come with the state prosecutor's office over these matters, that need to be heard before a judge and panels, a jury like suppression of evidence issues like," judge I need to know what expert witnesses they intend to call at trial," "judge I need to know if there are informants that they're going to call at trial," " judge I need to know what evidence of my other wrongdoings and bad acts is going to be presented at trial," these are the things that you must ask and get rulings on, it's critical that you must ask for them and get rulings on them such that you have protected your clients rights.
So all of these things happen, really post plea negotiations, and at or before or during these pre-trial hearings where there's this battle of admissibility of expert opinions, where there's this battle of do I have all the information that i'm required and entitled to have under the Michael Morton Act, under Texas 3914, that allows me to know everything that the state of Texas is going to be throwing at me in advance of trial , so that I can fully prepare or negotiate.
So that's that's what happens usually at the conclusion of the plea negotiation process, is these final pre-trial steps and then the only step after that is the trial process, and that one is so significant we're gonna make that its own segment. Thank you so much for reading!
Check out the corresponding video series here: https://youtu.be/3S2AerUaJvo
