Criminal Defense Terms and Definitions

Search warrant An order issued by a judge or magistrate commanding a sheriff, constable, or other officer to search a specified location. Admissible evidence Evidence which can legally and properly be used in court. Circumstantial evidence All evidence of an indirect nature. Testimony not based on actual personal knowledge or observation of the facts in controversy. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Methods of resolving disputes outside of official court proceedings. These methods include mediation arbitration, and conciliation. Levy A seizure; the obtaining of money by legal process through seizure and sale of property. Felony A felony is a major crime for which the maximum imprisonment is more than one year in a state correctional institution. The court may also impose a fine. Felonies are classified into four categories: capital, 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd degree Dismissal without prejudice A dismissal which permits the plaintiff to sue again on the same cause of action or the state to proceed again. Dismissal with prejudice bars the right to subsequently bring an action on the same cause. Accessory A person who assists in the commission of a crime, either before or after the fact. Allegation The assertion, declaration, or statement of a party to an action, made in a pleading, establishing what the party expects to prove. Miranda rule The rule, pronounced in Miranda v. Arizona, that confessions are inadmissible in a criminal prosecution if the police do not advise the suspect in custody of certain rights before questioning.

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	Did You Know?
	Res Ipsa Loquitur - Literally, "a thing that speaks for itself." In tort law, the doctrine which holds a defendant guilty of negligence without an actual showing that he or she was negligent. Its use is limited in theory to cases in which the cause of the plaintiff's injury was entirely under the control of the defendant, and the injury presumably could have been caused only by negligence.