A felony is a crime that (i) was a felony at common law, (ii) may be punished by death, (iii) may be punished by imprisonment in the state's prison, or (iv) is made a felony by statute. Upon being arrested and charged with a felony, you will be directed to come to court for a first appearance. The first appearance will take place in district criminal court in front of a district court judge. The purpose of this first appearance is to have the judge warn the defendant of his right against self-incrimination, to determine whether the defendant wants counsel and is entitled to court-appointed counsel, and to inform the defendant of the charges against him. After the first appearance, the state will proceed with having the defendant

indicted on the criminal felony charge. To obtain an indictment against a defendant charged with a felony, the district attorney must present a criminal pleading to a grand jury. A grand jury consists of 18 persons, 12 of whom must concur in an indictment. Once the grand jury returns an indictment against a defendant, the felony charge is transferred to criminal superior court.

In superior court, the defendant has the choice of pleading guilty to the actual charge or to a lesser charge in front of a superior court judge or to plead not guilty and be tried by a jury. Only a unanimous verdict of guilty will convict a defendant of a crime. As with the misdemeanor charge, a defendant who is found guilty of a felony charge by a jury or who pleads guilty before a superior court judge will be sentenced pursuant to the Structured Sentencing Act. Like misdemeanors, felonies are also divided into classes. They range from Class A (which is the most serious of felonies, i.e., murder) to Class I felonies (which is the lowest level of felony charges). Depending on your prior criminal record and on the class of felony with which you have been charged, you may receive an active punishment, a community punishment, or an intermediate punishment. An active punishment requires the defendant to serve a sentence of imprisonment and is not suspended. With a community punishment, the judge will suspend the underlying active sentence and place the defendant on some type of probation, usually regular supervised or unsupervised probation. Intermediate punishment is a sentence that places the defendant on supervised probation and includes at least one of the following conditions: special intensive probation, assignment to a residential program, electronic monitoring, or assignment to a day reporting center.

If you are charged with a felony offense, you will need to seek legal advice regarding the following issues: were you properly arrested and charged with a felony, do you have any defense to the charge, what kind of punishment are you facing with a felony, what evidence does the state have against you, what class felony have you been charged with, what rights do you have when charged with a felony offense. These are some of the may questions that you can have answered for you at the law firm of Collins & Maready.