[oldgoat13]

I received a notice via mail that I was to be at court for an arraignment on a certain day.upon showing up I was indited by a grand jury and found guilty.is this legal? Do I have the right to know before hand thst this is a trail and what I'm being charged with? This is in marshall cnty,AL

[AK lawyer]

Something is wrong for sure. This simply makes no sense at all. A grand jury doesn't take part in a trial; a petty jury does.

Did you have an attorney or as an attorney appointed to represent you?

[oldgoat13]

Yes we had an atterny.ge was unawaere of tge cgarge.at a previous trail thie charges were dropped.then I got the notice in the mail that I was being araigned.and when I show up it's a trail.

[oldgoat13]

This is acutaly about my step son, who was declared by the state of Alabama 2 or 3 years ago to be incompotent to care for himself due to mental retardation. He thought his grandmother was dwad inside her house and tgat was why she wasn't answering his knock at the door.an offixer showed up on the scence and grabbed my step sons arm.when he did my step son turned and knocked the officers glasses officers off which the officer stepped on and broke.he told my wife later that his insurance wouldn't cover tgem and she was going to have to pay for them.my step son was tazered by this officer then arrested him and charged him with felony assault on an officer.the next morning a judge held an emergency hearing and releasd him on his own recognizence.at a later gearing all charges were dismissed.and supposedly the officer was released from duty.but then at this arraignment he was tried on the felony assault charge

[excon]

Hello old:

You are entitled to "due process". You didn't get it. I suspect there's more to this story, but if it happened like you said, your attorney needs to file an appeal.. Hopefully you haven't waited too long..

excon

[AK lawyer]

Hello old:

You are entitled to "due process". You didn't get it. I suspect there's more to this story, but if it happened like you said, your attorney needs to file an appeal.. Hopefully you haven't waited too long..

excon

Well, it appears that Oldgoat13's step-son didn't get due process. It appears to me that what probably happened was this:

An indictment happened, and the trial was scheduled, but the step-son misunderstood somehow and thought it was going to be an arraignment.

If the initial post in this thread is correct, and the step-son got an inaccurate notice in the mail, the attorney should have moved to postpone the trial. Or perhaps moved for a mistrial, barrring further prosecution (under the double jeopardy clause).

Was the attorney unprepared to try the case? Was there ineffective assistance of counsel? If so, the step-son needs to get another lawyer to remedy the situation.

[oldgoat13]

This is oldgoat.my stepson is mentally retarded( for lack of a better term) and doesn't understand what is happening.and the notice said " arraignment" not trail.it was not a supeona eithwr.just a notixe stating date a that it was an arraignment,nothing else.and the lawyer was at the hearing prior to this one when all charges were dropped.he was as dumb founded as us to find it was a trail.he is now investigatibg how and why this happened.

[Fr_Chuck]

First find out if this really happened? Who sent you the email ? The attorney?
Courts do not notify you by email of hearings and the such.

[ScottGem]

First, can you please proof read or use a spell checker before submitting your posts. You can compose your posts in a word processor, spell check them and then copy and paste into the form on the page. Its hard to understand what you are trying to say.

Second, a grand jury does not convict. A grand jury simply determines if there is enough evidence to pursue a trial. If there is it issues an indictment and the prosecutor takes that to trial. An arraignment is when a judge hears a plea and rules on bail.

Were you at any of these hearings? Have you talked to the attorney to get the real facts because what you have related to us doesn't make a lot of sense.

But what does appear clear is that you DO know what your step son has been charged with.

[Fr_Chuck]

Agree, at a grand jury hearing, the defendant is not present, they merely look at the evidence and see if there is enough to charge him with a crime. So he will be formally charged though a grand jury.