Prosecution, defence and plea bargains

Prosecutors and defence lawyers each have their own desk in the CAD. They take cases that come to court, follow them through, and negotiate. A prosecutor can offer a plea bargain, the defence accepts or rejects it, and a judge approves it before it goes on the case. Prosecutors can also apply for warrants for a judge to sign.

Your community picks what these roles are called, for example "District Attorney" and "Public Defender". The desks use those names.

Before you start#

Courts needs to be turned on under Modules on the CAD settings page.
Prosecutors need a role with the Prosecute: take court cases, offer plea bargains and apply for warrants permission.
Defence lawyers need a role with the Defend: take court cases, answer plea offers and file appeals permission.
For plea bargains and warrant applications, turn on Plea bargains and Warrant applications in Court settings. Both are on to start with. See Run a court case.

Like judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers don't need to be in a department or on duty.

Open your desk#

Open the CAD on the community website.
On the Select a panel screen, click your desk under Desks. It's named after your community's role, for example Prosecutor or Defence attorney. You can also open it from the sections along the top of the Civilian panel.

The desk lists My cases, the cases you're on with open ones first, and the open cases with nobody in your seat yet.

Take a case#

Find the case under Open cases with no prosecutor (or no defence).
Click Take case.

You'll see You are on and the case number. The judge and the other side get a notice if Court notices is on. You can open an unclaimed case to read it before taking it.

Judges can assign counsel too#

When a judge runs a case, they can pick the prosecutor and defence from a list, or type a name. The list shows members who hold the prosecutor or defence permission through a community role, plus the owner and admins. Roles that belong to one department can't hold these permissions. A typed name shows on the case, but that person doesn't get the case on their desk.

Offer a plea bargain#

Prosecutors on a case:

Open the case from My cases.
Under Plea offers, click Offer a plea.
For each charge, pick Plead guilty, Reduce or Drop.
For Reduce, pick the charge it's reduced to from your penal code.
Fill in the sentence: Fine and Jail (months). Add Notes if you want.
Click Send offer.

Only one offer can be live on a case at a time. An offer that drops every charge isn't allowed, because that's a dismissal: the judge closes the case instead.

To take an offer back, click Withdraw offer and confirm. You can withdraw it until the judge approves it.

Answer a plea offer#

Defence lawyers on a case:

Open the case from My cases.
Read the offer under Plea offers.
Click Accept or Reject and confirm.

An accepted offer goes to the judge.

The judge approves the agreement#

On the court docket in the CAD, and on the case page in the control panel, an accepted offer shows Approve and Decline buttons.

Approve writes the agreement onto the case: the plea is set to guilty, charges kept or reduced are marked guilty, dropped charges are marked dismissed, and the sentence is filled in. The judge then closes the case to finish.
Decline turns the agreement down. The prosecutor can make a new offer.

Offer status	Means
Offered	Waiting for the defence.
Accepted by the defence	Waiting for the judge.
Rejected by the defence	The defence said no.
Approved by the court	It's on the case.
Declined by the court	The judge said no.
Withdrawn	The prosecutor took it back.

Apply for a warrant#

If Warrant applications is on, prosecutors have a Warrant application form on their desk.

Under Subject, type a name or date of birth and click Find, then pick the person.
Under Charges, pick each charge from Add a charge…. You can add up to 20.
Under Grounds, set out why there is probable cause.
Click Send to a judge. If your community calls judges something else, the button uses that name.

It goes to the judges as a warrant waiting to be signed. Your applications are listed under My applications with their status.

Something not working?#

I can't see the prosecutor or defence desk. Your role needs the prosecutor or defence permission, and Courts has to be turned on.

A member isn't in the judge's list of prosecutors or defence. They need the permission through a community role, not a department role. Or the judge can type their name instead.

It says "Someone else is already on this case." Another member already took that seat. Ask the judge if it needs changing.

It says "There is already an offer on this case. Withdraw it first." Only one offer can be live at a time. Withdraw the current one before making another.

It says "An offer that drops every charge is a dismissal. Close the case instead." Keep or reduce at least one charge, or ask the judge to dismiss the charges.

It says "Pick the charge to reduce" a charge to. You picked Reduce without choosing the new charge.

It says "This case is closed." Plea offers can only be made on open cases.

It says "Set out the grounds for the warrant." or "Add at least one charge." Warrant applications need a subject, at least one charge and the grounds.