California PEN 995 Motion is a legal defense motion requesting the court to set aside a felony or both felony and misdemeanor charges on the basis that the preliminary proceeding’s judge improperly or incorrectly allowed the case to proceed. Usually, the motion is filed after the preliminary hearing and only applies where you face a felony count because, without a felony charge, there could be no preliminary hearing. If you encounter a felony count and feel the judge incorrectly sustained the initial hearing, below is how you could have the entire or part of the count set aside.
Understanding PEN 995 Motions
As per PC 995, a 995 motion (pronounced as nine, nine, five) seeks to have a trial judge set aside the entire or part of a criminal complaint. You can file the motion under this section if you face felony counts or charges of both felony and misdemeanor. Note that you cannot use the motion to respond to a criminal case that only includes misdemeanor charges because there could be no preliminary proceeding with the absence of a felony count.
Similarly, you could file a 995 motion if the prosecutor alleges exceptional circumstances in the case or requests the court for a sentence enhancement. All felony charges must go through a preliminary proceeding for the judge to determine if the facts are strong to warrant a criminal trial. So, if there are sufficient facts to support an enhancement or particular circumstances, the judge will sustain the preliminary hearing, allowing the complaint to proceed. Luckily, the judge’s decision to allow the case to proceed to trial does not make your criminal case entirely hopeless. If you have reason to believe the decision was incorrect, you could request the judge to review it by filing a motion to set aside the felony.
It is advisable to work closely with a criminal defense attorney in these cases because they have the knowledge and experience to evaluate the preliminary hearing judge’s decision to establish if it is proper or not. When defending yourself, you will hardly notice the decision was incorrect, and your case might end up in trial where you risk being found guilty. However, you can quickly identify situations when it is right to file a 995 motion with a profound legal defense team, thus having the case dismissed.
The Right Time For A 995 Motion And The Legal Grounds For It
When you face felony charges, a preliminary proceeding is held to determine sufficient evidence to allow the case to proceed to trial. If there is enough evidence to sustain the hearing, you will be held to answer for your crimes, meaning the case will proceed, and the prosecuting team will file a formal criminal complaint with the trial court.
After the prosecutor has filed a criminal complaint, your criminal attorney should move into action swiftly and file a motion to set aside or dismiss the information filed in the trial court under PC 995. The motion requests the judge to evaluate the preliminary hearing’s decision before proceeding with pretrial proceedings.
It is worth noting that the initial proceeding aims to weed out felony counts with no grounds or insufficient evidence. Therefore, you can only file a 995 motion if you believe a violation of your rights in the preliminary proceeding or incomplete facts to demonstrate you possibly committed the crime. These situations when the motion to set aside or dismiss is suitable under PC 995 are further discussed below:
- You Were Unlawfully Committed to Trial
An illegal commitment happens when you are denied substantial rights at the preliminary proceeding. Your defense attorney should file a motion if you were denied your right to legal representation. Again, if you were denied the right to examine witnesses, have a speedy hearing, or be mentally fit in the preliminary proceeding, you were not lawfully committed. Therefore, you deserve to have the entire or part of the felony charge set aside. Again, if the claim exceeds the timeline provided in the statute of limitations, you should file the motion for a felony count.
- You Were Committed With Insufficient Evidence Or Lack Of Probable Cause
The judge handling your preliminary hearing must adhere to the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment by requiring probable cause or sufficient evidence before allowing the criminal case to forge ahead to the trial. Therefore, a judge should only allow your case to proceed past the preliminary hearing stage if sufficient evidence supports the felony accusations.
It is worth noting that the probable cause standard measures the sufficiency or adequacy of facts. The bar denotes a count backed by adequate evidence not to prove guilt beyond reasonable certainty but sufficient to make a sober or ordinary person honestly and firmly suspect you committed a crime. And this is because the standard of proof at the preliminary proceedings is lower than in criminal trials. The work of demonstrating that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is left for the jury to determine. And if you choose a bench trial, the decision of proving your innocence or guilt is left to the judge.
When a judge allows a criminal complaint that does not meet the probable cause criteria to proceed to trial, a motion to set aside the complaint will be appropriate.
Winning Your 995 Motion to Set Aside a Felony
Unlawful commitment and absence of probable cause occur in different circumstances. And once you file the 995 motion through your criminal attorney, you need to prove these circumstances for it to be successful. You need to verify the following events present in the preliminary hearing for the trial judge to grant the motion:
Insufficient Evidence
The criminal complaint against you will be set aside if unsatisfactory direct or incidental facts demonstrate you committed the criminal act in question. In the hearing, the prosecuting attorney must present facts to back all the components of each felony count. When charged with both a misdemeanor and felony, the prosecution has the burden to prove all the aspects of the misdemeanor charge. Also, there must be sufficient facts to back the findings of exceptional circumstances or any basis for sentence enhancement. Otherwise, when the judge at this proceeding lets a case that lacks adequate evidence proceed to trial, your criminal attorney must file a 995 motion to have the complaint set aside.
Let us say you face charges for the sale of cocaine. During your arrest, police entered your home with a valid search warrant, and upon checking the house, they discovered cocaine but no other evidence to prove the sale of the drug. If the only evidence to prove cocaine sale is the possession, it is insufficient to show you possessed the drugs for sale. Therefore, the criminal complaint will be mere accusations that you planned on selling the cocaine. And because there are zero facts to demonstrate sale, it will be appropriate for your attorney to file a 995 motion because the criminal trial judge is likely to grant it.
Failure by the Prosecuting Attorney to Provide Evidence or Discovery
The 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause requires the prosecuting team to furnish the defense team with any or all case details that might be pertinent or advantageous. They should avail this information even without the defense team’s request. On top of providing this info voluntarily, it should be timely to allow your legal team to go through it. Typically, the prosecutor should provide you with discovery within fifteen days. Failure to do so will lead to the dismissal of the counts against you.
Let us say you are arrested for burglary of another person’s house. However, you inform the officers during the arrest that you were not breaking into someone’s house because the owner (a friend) had asked you to house-sit their pet while they were away. While investigating, police collect testimonies from people confirming that the owner gave you consent to enter the house. The prosecutor fails to reveal this information because the testimony could prove you are telling the truth. If this is your situation, the criminal trial judge will grant you a motion to dismiss on the grounds of failing to disclose or provide discovery.
Unlawful Search and Seizure
The court will set aside the complaint against you under the 995 motion if the prosecutor uses illegal evidence to sustain your preliminary hearing. This is because of the unlawful search and seizure.
For instance, the police suspect you are selling narcotics within your property, and without legal search warrants, they raid your home and recover a massive amount of drugs. You will be charged with possession of illegal drugs. Still, because of the unlawful seizure of your property, the judge should dismiss the case at the preliminary hearing because the evidence obtained is inadmissible in court. However, if the judge allows the criminal case to forge ahead to trial, your defense attorney could file a 995 motion and succeed.
Missed Deadline when Disclosing Information
After the judge gives the go-ahead with the trial, the prosecutor has fifteen days to challenge a formal criminal complaint in court. If they miss the deadline, your attorney should quickly file a motion to set aside the case because it will be successful.
The Preliminary Hearing Exceeded One Session
A preliminary proceeding should end in one session unless you agree to delays. When the hearing occurs outside the provided time or is interrupted, and you are not released during the period, this is considered an illegal commitment and could result in a judge granting your 995 motion to set aside your felony charge.
Factual Findings
An initial hearing judge should set aside the case to make a factual finding that demonstrates your innocence. For instance, you are charged with robbing a bank, and the only witness in the case testifies that they had poor vision and are not sure if they saw someone like you or testified that you look like the perpetrator of the robbery. The preliminary hearing judge will throw out the case if this is the only evidence linking you to the theft. However, if the case is allowed to proceed to trial, your attorney can succeed in having the complaint dismissed by filing a 995 motion.
The Process of a 995 Motion
A 995 motion results in a lot of anxiety because when denied and you do not appeal, you will face a trial and a possible felony conviction that attracts serious consequences. Therefore, before filing the motion, it is critical to know what to expect by understanding the process it takes.
First, the judge will allow the complaint to move to trial in the initial hearing. After, it will be allotted to a criminal trial judge or pre-trial schedule. Here, you will be brought to court and charged with the felony complaint that the prosecutor has filed. When the preliminary judge errors in the judgment, you are required to file a motion to set aside once the felony charge is assigned to a trial judge and before any pretrial proceeding occurs. However, you must work closely with an experienced defenses attorney to do this. An experienced attorney has handled multiple cases like yours in the past, and letting them take your motion increases the possibility of the felony charge dismissal.
Once you have been re-arraigned, the prosecutor will provide your legal team with a preliminary or initial hearing report or transcript. The information is a crucial part of your 995 motion because all the evidence that can result in the dismissal of the felony charges is contained here. The judge will evaluate the transcript when considering your request for a count dismissal.
The motion proceeding only lasts for an hour. You will have the chance to orally present your arguments on why all or part of your counts should be set aside. Once you are done, the prosecutor will be given an equal opportunity to respond, and then your criminal attorney will be given another chance to make final assertions. Note that if the prosecuting team filed a written response, they only need to refer to its arguments.
The entire process takes around sixty minutes, after which a judge gives a verdict. The ruling might come right after the arguments or might take some time when there is a need to further deliberate on the assertions. The judge will dismiss the information if, from the statements, you were illegally committed or committed void of probable cause.
The Outcome of a Successful 995 Motion
When your attorney makes strong arguments to demonstrate the absence of probable cause or unlawful commitment, the court will grant the motion. However, the prosecutor could challenge this decision by filing an appeal.
While awaiting the decision from the appellate court, they can choose to continue with a bench or jury trial on the remaining charges if only part of the complaint was dismissed. Alternatively, they could request for a trial continuance pending appeal determination.
Also, the prosecutor might choose not to appeal the decision and instead refile another complaint. Nevertheless, if the case is dismissed for the second time after an appeal, it cannot be prosecuted again because California adopts the two-dismissal rule. However, there are exceptions to this rule, and you need to be aware of them to take the right action if you find yourself in the situation. An experienced defense attorney will explain the circumstances when the exceptions apply to know if your case is affected.
Claiming Your Bail Money
When the trial judge sets asides the entire case, the court will refund your bail within fifteen days after dismissal. However, you might not obtain the money-back if the prosecutor refiles the exact charges because they will use the money on the fresh felony counts.
What if the Court Denies your Motion to Dismiss?
The court’s decision on the motion might not always be in your favor. If the court denies your motion, you can appeal the decision by filing a writ mandate, asking the appellate court to review your denial. The writ will only be available for sixty days from your court arraignment, meaning you should file an appeal within this period. If you do not file the appeal within this window, you must wait until the felony case is determined in a trial before you can appeal the ruling on the motion to dismiss a felony complaint. However, you should act immediately because of the strict deadlines. Luckily, a criminal attorney understands these timelines and will ensure that you file your petition on time.
If the grounds for filing the denied motion were insufficient evidence or lack of probable cause, you have up to fifteen days from the date of the denial to challenge the ruling. Note that when you fail to challenge the verdict on your motion or lose the appeal, the case will continue to a criminal trial. You do not want to risk the felony case going to trial because you will face severe penalties when convicted.
Find a Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me
When you face felony charges or have been held to answer a preliminary proceeding, Los Angeles Criminal Attorney is available to help you file the 995 motion if your situation is appropriate for it. Our defense attorneys understand how to litigate matters on the motion to dismiss a felony, making us more suitable for the job. Call us today at 424-333-0943 for a free consultation.
