District court trials take place at local courthouses all across West Michigan. They are usually only one day long. However, in some rare cases they may last two days.
The life of district court trials starts at an arraignment. Arraignment is where the district court judge reads the charges to the person accused of the crime and informs of them of the maximum possible punishments if they plea guilty or are convicted of the charges at trial.
A lot of people charged with misdemeanor crimes get very nervous when they hear the maximum possible punishment. I always assure my clients that they are not likely to get the maximum possible punishment. In my years of practicing criminal law, I have never seen a person get the maximum sentence for a misdemeanor conviction.
After the arraignment, the next step that leads to district court trials is a pre-trial conference. At the pre-trial conference, the defense lawyer and prosecutor sit down and try to settle the case short of trial. If the prosecutor and the defense lawyer are not able to settle short of trial, a jury trial or bench trial will happen.
A bench trial is where the judge decides the guilt of the defendant. A jury trial is where six peers will decide if the defendant is guilty of the crime based on the evidence that is submitted to them.
After the trial, the defendant will be sentenced if he is found guilty. If the defendant is found not guilty, the case is over and the defendant walks out of court a free man.