DOJ Position Guide

ADMINISTRATION: Your role in the Judiciary means that you have final ruling on the court documents submitted to you. 

ACCESSING & SHARING INFORMATION: Your role in the Judiciary allows you access to confidential and sensitive information via the usage of the MDT, Warrants and Subpoenas - you are trusted with this information.  This information is not to be shared with members of the Public.

CELL REPRESENTATION: Members of the Judiciary are NOT involved in any aspects of Cell representation.

PLEA DEALS: A plea deal can be entered into at any stage of the legal process - up to the point of Closing statements in a Court Case. Typically a plea deal happens in either the pre-filing stage or when a docket has been started. As a member of the Judiciary you are responsible for ensuring that a Plea Deal is fair to both the State and Defendant. You are required to sign off on the plea deal but you do not have to accept it. If you choose to reject the plea deal, the defendant has acknowledged a Guilty plea and you may now enforce a different outcome.

FRANKS HEARINGS: A Franks hearing can be requested by a defendant if they have reason to believe that the information presented to the Judge/Justice by a law enforcement officer is incorrect.

Typically if it is a document that you have presided over as a Judge, the franks hearing should be heard by another member of the Judiciary (although this is not always possible). The hearing is to determine the accuracy and validity of the document and the presiding Judge can decide to uphold the original ruling or dismiss it.

SENTENCING HEARINGS: A sentencing hearing will follow the same format as a Court Case and is typically only seen in Capital Cases, as such they are presided over by a Justice. The time from entering a Guilty Plea to holding the hearing is usually 7-10 days based on peoples availability. It is the Judiciary's responsibility to arrange the hearing and to co-ordinate with Department of Corrections for Security and transportation. The presiding Justice must listen to all evidence provided and come to a conclusion on the prison time and potential for parole. Unlike a Court Case, the Justice may ask questions of the Defendant to clarify and gain a better understanding in making a ruling.

PAROLE HEARING:  Parole hearings are closed door proceedings and are chaired by a member of the Judiciary. The hearing will consist of a panel made up command members of the Department of Corrections whom will provide testimony for the parolee to help decide if the incarcerated has shown correct behaviors and is ready to be integrated back into society. The panel must decide on if parole can be granted, the length and any specific considerations - a parole officer will be appointed to oversee the process and to perform the required check in and provide reports to the court

MEDICAL HEARING: Any person being placed on an extended mental health medical hold must come before a member of the Judiciary. These hearings are behind closed doors with just the Patient and Medical Staff being present. The Medical staff must provide a rationale for the extension of the hold, an initial diagnosis and preliminary treatment plan. The Judiciary will then rule on the duration of the hold - this can be anywhere from 3 to 28 days. The Judiciary will provide guidelines under which this will be operated including but not limited to: status reports to the court, hold conditions, visitation rights, conditions for releasing the hold

BAIL HEARINGS: A defendant has no automatic right to a Bail hearing, a request for a hearing is typically made in the matter of Capital Charges where the defendant is on a Hold Until Trial (but can be made to the DA office or Command level of LEO for shorter sentences).  As a  Justice, you will decide if a hearing is possible based on the evidence provided, the rationale for the request and the defendants history. If a hearing is allowed, the Court will take into account the Charges, circumstances, behaviors, flight risk, criminal record before deciding or setting any conditions. Typically, bail bonds are set in the range of $1-$4 Million's and conditions may include housing, curfew, electronic tagging and avoidance of groups of people.

CRIMINAL COURTCASES: Presiding over cases is a significant part of the role of the Judiciary. From the time you are assigned the case on the Docket system, through Discovery, ruling on Motions, into trial and finally a verdict. You are responsible for ensuring Justice prevails which means you will not be anyone's friend. Your role is to ensure that you base your judgement on the facts presented to you in accordance with the laws that we follows. The Judiciary can not ask questions of any of the witness or the defendant unless it is to clarify a point - they can intervene if a witness is being hostile and must provide rulings on objections. A Judge can preside over any case with the exception of Capital charges - they must be handled via a Justice. 

CIVIL COURTCASES: A Judge or a Justice may preside over a civil case, you will co-ordinate all aspects of the court docket, rule on motions, order witness to court and you will listen to the Plaintiff and the Respondent in court and provide a ruling.

APPEALS: An appeal to a case can be raised in the event of suspected judicial error - or if a No Contest Plea has been entered to argue the time and fine. Both must be registered on Core within 30 days of the verdict (in a criminal case) or jail time (in a no contest plea). A Justice is required to preside over an appeal and will decide if a verdict can be over turned and the case sent back to the courts for a retrial.

ADMINISTRATION: Your role in the PDO allows you to assist any member of the public in the following: Expungement Requests, Name Changes, FOIA, Subpoenas, Wills, Criminal and civil representation, and Adoption Paperwork. You may not charge for your services, however you can accept tips. 

ACCESSING & SHARING INFORMATION: Your role in the PDO allows you access to confidential and sensitive information via the usage of the MDT - you are trusted with this information and you should only be looking at Arrest reports/Incident reports when provided the reference by your client or by a government employee (LEO or DOJ). You should not be searching through the MDT on a "fishing" expedition, looking at pending warrants or using any persons private information for any purpose.

CELL REPRESENTATION: Cell representation is a Core element of your role in the PDO.  You have made an ethical pledge to assert the constitutional rights of all  your clients and to work zealously to defend each and every one. During a Cell Rep, your role is to ensure you client understands the charges they may face and the implications of them,  with a lawyer present it is possible to argue for up to 50% reduction in time and fine for any charges.

PLEA DEALS: A plea deal can be entered into at any stage of the legal process - up to the point of Closing statements in a Court Case. Typically a plea deal happens in either the pre-filing stage or when a docket has been started. As a member of the PDO you are to advise your client on options but are not able to direct them as to what to do. Any plea deals must be agreed between the defendant and the state and then  presented to a judge - who may refuse the terms of the deal.

FRANKS HEARINGS: A Franks hearing can be requested by a defendant if they have reason to believe that the information presented to the Judge/Justice by a law enforcement officer is incorrect. As a member of the PDO you are tasked with providing evidence that may show that the officer in question were not being honest and as such the Warrant/Subpoena in question is invalid. This is not an arena to discuss an entire case, but to challenge the evidence on a specific point. This hearing is usually held in a closed session. Be aware that if the evidence relates to a Confidential Informant then the Judge/Justice is under no obligation to reveal the name

SENTENCING HEARINGS: A sentencing hearing may still require a member of the PDO to represent the defendant.  The role of the PDO is to present evidence and arguments to try and either minimize the sentence to be imposed or to propose parole etc - most usually you will spend the majority of the time trying to ensure that the defendant does not further self incriminate.

PAROLE HEARING:  Parole hearings are closed door proceedings with no defense representation in the room. As a member of the PDO you are able to coach your client and prepare them for the hearing, however you will not be present. The reasoning for this is the defendant must be able to convince the Judge/Justice on their own accord of the reasons for granting parole. 

MEDICAL HEARING: Any person being placed on an extended mental health medical hold must come before a member of the Judiciary. These hearings are behind closed doors with just the Patient and Medical Staff being present, as such there is no legal defense provided and the PDO do not take part.

BAIL HEARINGS: A defendant has no automatic right to a Bail hearing, a request for a hearing is typically made in the matter of Capital Charges where the defendant is on a Hold Until Trial (but can be made to the DA office or Command level of LEO for shorter sentences).  A Justice will decide if a hearing is possible based on the evidence provided, the rationale for the request and the dependents history. If a hearing is allowed, the Court will take into account the Charges, circumstances, behaviors, flight risk, criminal record before deciding or setting any conditions. Typically, bail bonds are set in the range of $1-$4 Million's and conditions may include housing, curfew, electronic tagging and avoidance of groups of people. As the representative, your role is to present your client in the best possible light to convince the Justice of the low risk.

CRIMINAL COURTCASES: The activity in the PDO that will take the most time, representing your client in a Criminal Case. As members of the PDO you can represent them from the initial cell representation until the end of the Criminal proceedings should you wish to. You will need to inform the Court of any clients you are representing via the Docket system, submit any evidence or motions, represent them court and follow the procedures as stated in the Bar Handbook. Your client may choose to remove you from the case, however you may not remove yourself without having put forth a case with the presiding judge/justice. 

CIVIL COURTCASES: Unusually, members of the DOA may act as the Plaintiff on civil cases. You would prepare the case for the Civil matter, submit the Court Docket along with any evidence to support the claims. It is important that any financial claims due to loss of earnings or for injury must have evidence to support this. The maximum limit in any civil case is $750,000.

APPEALS: An appeal to a case can be raised in the event of suspected judicial error - or if a No Contest Plea has been entered to argue the time and fine. Both must be registered on Core within 30 days of the verdict (in a criminal case) or jail time (in a no contest plea). In both instances the emphasis is on the PDO to prove the error.