![]() On the other hand, even if he has probable cause to believe a misdemeanor has been committed, a police officer can generally only arrest a suspect for a misdemeanor committed in his presence. If a police officer has probable cause (a reasonable belief that a person has probably committed a crime) to believe a felony has been committed, then he can arrest the suspect if he finds him. For instance, domestic abuse and driving under the influence are misdemeanors for the first offense, while they are felonies on the second and all subsequent offenses for most theft offenses, if the amount stolen is below a certain amount (fixed individually for that crime), then it is a misdemeanor, but theft of something above the designated value is a felony.ĭetermination of what the proper charge is, at least initially, helps a police officer determine what happens next. Some crimes can be misdemeanors or felonies, depending on the circumstances. Misdemeanors are less serious crimes, such as traffic offenses, public intoxication and so forth. Felonies are serious crimes, often involving violence, such as murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery or burglary. What happens next often depends on whether the crime involved is a felony or a misdemeanor. A citizen calls in a complaint about a theft, neighbors report a domestic dispute, or police discover a crime during a routine traffic stop. Thus, an explanation of Oklahoma procedure would be of limited application to Texas, or a federal court, or even a tribal court.Īll criminal prosecutions start with some sort of report by law enforcement. ![]() It should be noted that this is limited to Oklahoma, as there are significant variations from state to state, and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This article will try to give a rundown of Oklahoma criminal procedure to help sort out these confusing issues. ![]() All too often, news reports - written by reporters who aren’t acquainted with the criminal justice system - do more to muddle the issues than to inform the public. In the real world, however, it’s never that tidy. On your average police procedural that’s all she wrote - the criminal goes to jail and everyone else goes on with their lives. You’ve seen it on the news a crime is reported, the police have made an arrest and the court system takes over.
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