Familiarization with the entire criminal case and the materials contained therein is very important for the accused and his counsel. This is simply necessary so that in court you can correctly build your line of defense and not lose to the prosecution. At the same time, a detailed study of all the numbered sheets of the case will help to familiarize in detail with all the testimonies of witnesses and other participants in the trial, which will greatly facilitate the work of the lawyer in defending the accused at the hearing.
Examination of all sheets of the case of the accused
After the victim and his counsel familiarized themselves with the case, the turn comes to familiarize the accused and his lawyer. When carrying out this procedural measure, the lawyer and his client can in no way be limited in time. In the case when the familiarization with the materials of the criminal case is delayed, and the investigator is sure that the accused and his counsel do it on purpose, then, on the basis of a court decision, the time for familiarization with the case for these participants in the trial may be limited.
If, within the time period established by the court, the lawyer and his client did not familiarize themselves with the case file, then the investigator has the right to complete this procedural procedure and record this in the relevant protocol.
If the case consists of several volumes, the lawyer and his client can refer to the study of each volume repeatedly, while making extracts, making copies and taking photographs.
Petition
Before familiarizing themselves with the case file, the accused and his lawyer may file a request to the investigator with a request to study the case independently from each other. The submission of such an application is mandatory in this case, because such a rule is provided for in Art. 217 Code of Criminal Procedure and is subject to mandatory implementation by the participants in the process.
When expressing a written formal request, the investigator must draw up a petition based on the following example:
To the investigator of the SB Ministry of Internal Affairs of the town of Radiant, captain of justice Koshechkin
attorney Shlyapnikov acting on the basis of warrant No. 11111
in the interests of the accused Lipovnik under Art. 155 of the Criminal Code
Petition
I ask you to give me the opportunity to familiarize myself with the materials of the criminal case No. ___ on the charge of G. Lipovnik committing a crime under article 155 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation separately from my client, with subsequent granting him the same right on the basis of article 217 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Defender __________________ Shlyapnikov
After the investigator makes a procedural decision on this issue, he will also send a corresponding response to the applicant.
In the event that the petition for familiarization with the materials of the criminal case is rejected by the investigator, it will be possible to appeal this refusal through the court on the basis of Article 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure .
Familiarization with the victim’s case
In the event that the victim and his counsel want to familiarize themselves with the case file, they should inform the investigator about it, because familiarization with the materials of the criminal case of the victim and his counsel, as well as the civil plaintiff, occurs only after they have made an appropriate request.
If a positive response is received from the investigator, these participants in the process can familiarize themselves with the case according to the same rules as the accused and his counsel. The victim and his counsel have the right to make extracts and copies, as well as pictures using a cell phone, if the quality of the camera allows it.
The civil plaintiff and his representative can study the case only in that part which is related to the statement of claim submitted by them.
In the event that the investigator for some reason does not allow the participants in the process to familiarize themselves with the case, then such actions of the procedural person may be appealed through the judicial authority.
The victim is familiarized with the materials of the criminal case until the accused and his counsel study it - this is the rule of criminal proceedings.
Case files that are not subject to disclosure
The accused and his counsel have the right to familiarize themselves with all the materials of the case, including material evidence, except for information that is not subject to disclosure on the basis of part 9 of article 166 of the criminal procedure code. This happens if there is a certain risk to the life of the victim, as well as witnesses and their families. Therefore, in order to classify the data of these participants in the process, the investigator makes an appropriate decision with the permission of the commanding staff or independently, if he is not in place, and then seals the decision on non-disclosure of the data of the victim, witness and their relatives in an envelope that is stored in the file. The information in it is not subject to publication and familiarization.
In this case, fictitious data about the identity of the victim and witnesses are entered into the protocol of the investigative action, after which the participants in the process get acquainted with him and put fictitious signatures for their own safety. At the earliest opportunity, the investigator should report this procedural action to his superiors.
Time to familiarize yourself with the case.
When familiarizing themselves with the materials of a criminal case, the participants in the process cannot be limited in time in any way, especially if the case is large enough and consists of several volumes. The accused and his counsel, as well as the victim and his lawyer, civil plaintiff familiarize themselves with the case on the basis of Art. 217 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which stipulates that the defense counsel and the accused cannot be limited in time when studying the case.
If a situation occurs when a lawyer with his client deliberately drags out the study of all the materials of the case, then the investigator may appeal to the court with a request to establish a time limit for these participants in the process of familiarizing themselves with the case. After that, the time for familiarization with the materials of the criminal case will be established in court.
In the event that the accused and his counsel did not familiarize themselves with the case within the time period established by the court, the investigator has the right to complete this procedural action and to record this in the minutes, but only if the participants in the trial had no good reason for this. If the lawyer and his client did not familiarize themselves with the case for legitimate reasons (due to health reasons, the defense counsel’s business trip), then the time for familiarization with the materials of the criminal case should be increased.
Protection
Each criminal suspect and accused has the right to receive qualified legal assistance from a lawyer. If this student of the process cannot afford to independently hire and pay for such a specialist, then he must be provided with a public defender who will provide services to his client free of charge.
In modern times, the services of a lawyer in criminal matters are quite expensive, while not all advocates live up to the expectations of their client. It also happens that a state lawyer performs his functions much better than a lawyer who was paid a lot of money.
Before contacting any lawyer, you need to very well learn his practice, if any, ask friends about him and read reviews about him on the Internet. In addition, the principal and his defense attorney simply need to find a common language, otherwise joint work aimed at protecting and representing the interests of the accused will not produce any results.
Before concluding an agreement with a lawyer, you need to very well study each clause of the contract and, if necessary, amend it. The services of a lawyer in criminal cases should not only be described on paper, but also reasonably transcribed by points, so that in case of a losing case it would be possible to return part of the amount paid to the defense counsel.
Proof of
At the time of acquaintance with the case, the accused and his counsel should be very attentive to the study of evidence that testifies against the alleged culprit. This is especially true of physical evidence that you can touch and see how they are packed and how they are stored, if the sealed bag was opened and if this thing was used by someone else.
Material evidence in a criminal case must be presented by the investigator to familiarize the defense counsel and the accused with it. In the event that the investigator does not have the opportunity to provide evidence to the participants in the process for review, he must make an appropriate decision.
Possible objections
After studying and acquaintance with all available materials of the criminal case, the lawyer and his client have the right to express their objections and other comments regarding the conduct of the entire preliminary investigation. The investigator must ask the participants in the process for their statement of request or other statement after they have fully familiarized themselves with the case. If such statements are available, they are communicated to the investigator either orally or in writing, after which they are entered in the protocol of the investigative action.
Referral
After all the investigative actions are completed, the investigator transfers the case to the court, which will subsequently decide the fate of the accused. The time frames for consideration of a case after its transfer to the court are quite different and are set by the court independently. At that moment, when the case is already in court, the defense lawyer may again familiarize himself with the materials of the criminal case, as it sometimes happens that a lawyer who represented the interests of his client during the preliminary investigation did not live up to his expectations, and therefore he has to be changed to another defender. While the re-familiarization of the accused with the materials of the criminal case after transferring it to the court is no longer allowed. That is why the study of the case before the trial is the direct responsibility of the new lawyer.
Arbitrage practice
Currently, judicial practice is structured in such a way that all criminal cases that reach the stage of judicial review and have a sufficient amount of evidence collected by the prosecution always end with a guilty verdict. The percentage of acquittals is very low and practically not allowed by the prosecution.
Judicial practice in criminal cases involving traffic accidents only in one of ten sentences fully acquits the innocent driver, in other cases unsuccessful drivers are sentenced to real terms and serve sentences in places of deprivation of liberty, thereby receiving a criminal record and a debt, as moral compensation harm to the victims, which is usually paid only after the convict is released. While for deliberate crimes, the courts give suspended sentences to the guilty and the opportunity to improve without isolation from society.
An example of one court sentence
A citizen committed an apartment theft, after which he sold all the stolen property through a friend and earned it. The indicated citizen spent the funds illegally obtained to pay off the debt on the loan, which he had not paid for a long time, which was confirmed by bank employees and fixing the video camera. As a result of the search activities, this man was detained, after which he realized his guilt and repented of his deed. The court found him guilty of atrocity and sentenced him to 1 year imprisonment with a fine of 60 thousand rubles.
It can be seen from the above example that the judicial practice in criminal cases is almost always the following: the court assigns punishment to the attackers, which has nothing to do with isolation from society, because they recognize their guilt and can be corrected outside the colony.
An example from the practice of the court in the case of an accident
The citizen was driving her car along the street at night and, violating the driving rules, allowed a collision with a pedestrian who was injured in his head and subsequently died, which is confirmed by the examination. As a result of the investigative measures taken and the evidence gathered, the court found the woman guilty and ordered her to serve her sentence in prison with compensation for harm suffered by several million rubles, which is fair at the discretion of the court.
It can be seen from the above examples: it often happens that punishment for deliberate atrocity is not as severe as for careless punishment. Unfortunately, paradoxes are the eternal companions of judicial practice in our country.