Criminal Proceedings

When a person is charged with a crime, they go through criminal proceedings. Idaho has two basic types of crimes: misdemeanors and felonies. Infractions are not crimes and follow a different procedure.

Criminal cases are follow procedures set out in the criminal rules. Idaho has the Idaho Criminal Rules, Idaho Misdemeanor Criminal Rules, Idaho Infraction Rules, and for cases dealing with juveniles there are the Idaho Juvenile Rules; these rules govern the procedures, while the Idaho Rules of Evidence generally control questions of evidence.

A criminal case generally proceed as follows:

Pre-trial stage:

• Police investigation
  • This stage involves the collection of evidence that will be used to prosecute the defendant. At this stage the person who will become the defendant may be an unknown subject, a person of interest, or a suspect. Law enforcement may interview witnesses, seek tips and information from the public or informants, may seek to interrogate the subject of the investigation, and may seek the issuance of a search warrant from a magistrate.
• Filing of the Complaint