Preliminary Hearing Would Be to See if the Child Could Be Certified as an Adult
Video Transcribed: Do juveniles get a preliminary hearing in Oklahoma? Hi, my name is Ryan Cannonie. I’m an attorney in Tahlequah. And if you have a child, a son, daughter, or even just know of a child who has been alleged to have committed a crime, if that crime is one that would be a felony if an adult did it. Let’s say we’re talking like burglaries.
We’re talking any type of violent crime or even just felony offenses, property crimes in excess of the amounts would be a felony. Anything of that nature, then yes, the alleged delinquent, in this case, is entitled to a preliminary hearing.
Now, this preliminary hearing is going to be done to see if that child could be certified as an adult. What the juvenile system uses preliminary hearings for is to turn prosecutive merit. This prosecutive merit hearing or preliminary hearing is used to determine if there’s enough evidence to say that this child likely did the crime.
And if so, then the court will order a report done. And this report will come back answering several questions. And if these questions are answered in a certain way, then the court can determine that this child should be held accountable as an adult. The case will then be refiled as an adult CF number, and will no longer be confidential like the other juvenile cases are.
So, you don’t always want to hear the court say they want this because then, that means they’re trying to certify that this child is an adult. But juveniles do get these types of hearings. So, it’s something that you probably need to be aware of if you have a child or even just know someone who’s going through the juvenile delinquent process. If you have questions about this or anything else related to the juvenile delinquent process and system, then please, give us a call.
