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badge - California Public Defenders Association
badge - Sacramento County Bar Association
badge - The State Bar of California
badge - United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Goals at a Preliminary Hearing

A Sacramento criminal defense attorney can help you understand what will happen at the preliminary hearing after the police arrest and book you. It is best at this point to have an attorney who is able to help you and answer your questions about what is happening.

One of your attorney’s goals will be to try to get your bail reduced. It may be possible to argue that the case against you is so weak that the charges should be dismissed, but that is not very likely. However, your attorney will have an opportunity to questions some witnesses before the trial, which may indicate whether the victim’s testimony is credible, how damaging the testimony is to your case, and how severe the victim’s injuries were. These factors may be used to argue for a reduction in bail.

The preliminary hearing will also be a good opportunity for your attorney to gather information. Formal discovery is not as thorough in criminal cases as it is in civil, so it may be difficult to find witnesses and get them to agree to be interviewed. If they are called by the prosecution, however, they will be telling their story mostly unrehearsed and without a lot of coaching and preparation. Hearing this raw version of their testimony can be useful to your attorney, as he or she will be able to determine how credible they are.

If you have further questions about the purpose of your preliminary hearing, contact Sacramento criminal defense attorney Param Pabla for a consultation.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
“Mr. Pabla represented me with my DUI case. He has excellent communication skills and always kept me informed. Mr. Pabla made sure I understood the process and my rights. He eased my mind through a very stressful situation. I highly recommend Mr. Pabla.” Gurpreet
★★★★★
“I am so happy with the service that I received from Param S. Pabla. Jarrett did a great job solving my legal issue and I can’t recommend him enough! He was able to do everything quickly, painlessly, and was ALWAYS available to talk when I needed him. If I ever need help again, I will definitely use him!" Boris
★★★★★
“Param was excellent in my court case of failure to stop at a stop sign. The officer could not see clearly because he was too far away. The officer insisted he could and said he had video but could not produce it at the trial. The officer then asked if he could suspend the trial to go get the video but the judge said he should have had plenty of time to get the video ready beforehand. Needless to say, the judge ruled in my favor and dismissed the case which enraged the officer. Pabla Param’s defense and cross examination skills were excellent and paramount in having the case dismissed. Highly recommended.” T.C.
★★★★★
“My husband and I needed to update everything -family trust, will, medical stuff. Param was really patient -answering all my questions -even when I asked them twice. He wanted to be sure I understood everything we were doing. All docs were sent to us so we could go through them on our own time before anything was finalized. I also liked when we were looking at medical stuff that he had a conversation with me about what I wanted and pointed out some things I didn’t think of.” Debbie