Remember the purpose of filing a criminal charge is to make it stick. The prosecutor has to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt. Many people describe that standard as a  75% to 90% likelihood that the crime was committed. That is a very high standard. If you filed the complaint you may be called into court and you will need to be absolutely certain of what you saw 3 months ago or even a year ago.

For legal and other reasons, I always suggest a detailed record made the same day as the event with full names, dates, times, locations, and student and adult witnesses to make winning your case much easier. Believe it or not, your Student Referrals are valuable should you have the opportunity to provide character witness testimony. Do not speculate on facts or events or attempt to add clever commentary either in your complaint or on the witness stand.

Police officers and detectives are looking for good cases. Many people are already biased on the side of children unless they look like criminals or are suspected gang members. Prosecutors are looking for winnable cases. Your written records are extremely crucial. A typical Class C misdemeanor case has only a citation with a single sentence describing the crime alleged for the prosecutor to go on. A police report will typically have only a condensed version of the facts. Also included in the prosecutor’s file are the student’s statement and any statements from his friends or witnesses. Your statement may need to be hand delivered to the prosecutor on pretrial day. The police do not always add your statement to the prosecutor’s file. Your statement, if it has been included at all, will need to be specific and to the point. Your verbosity and sarcasm is never appreciated.  The


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more you “create” the more a clever prosecutor has to question you on. If you have provided a detailed statement earlier ask the prosecutor if he has received it and read it. You would be amazed how little preparation time goes in to preparing these cases.

During a pretrial conference I determine whether or not I want the teacher to speak to the prosecutor. If I believe it in my best client’s best interest I will allow the teacher to re-tell her side of the story and answer any specific questions. Of course, I already know in advance how the teacher will respond to any questions.  In municipal courts there is usually an Open File Policy which permits the teacher or her attorney to view all the statements collected against her by the complainant and any witnesses. 

When answering any questions or testifying in court please only answer the question asked.  Your elaboration leaves you vulnerable to attack because you have now provided some information that no one else knew before. Also, your added information may draw an objection for your being “nonresponsive” and the jury will never appreciate your delay.

Many prosecutors handling Class C misdemeanors do not give these cases the same time and attention as they would a Class A or B misdemeanor. Remember that a Class C misdemeanor is comparable to ordering a fast food burger: they are numerous and commonplace.