Cleveland Municipal Court
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Constitutional Rights Announcement
Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of this announcement is to inform those of you scheduled to appear before the Court your basic rights and of the basic procedures that the Court will follow in handling your case our cases today. Please listen carefully as each of these rights can be critical to the outcome of your situation.
In this courtroom today the Court will accept the pleas of those of you who have been charged with criminal and/or traffic offenses within the City of Cleveland. There are three possible pleas that you might make: the first is Not Guilty, which is a complete denial of the charges; the second is Guilty, which is a complete admission of your guilt; the third is No Contest, which is not an admission of guilt but it is an admission of the truth of the facts contained in the complaint.
The importance of the No Contest plea is that it cannot be used against you in any future civil or criminal proceeding. If you choose to enter either a Guilty or No Contest plea today both judgment and sentencing could occur today.
If you choose to enter a Not Guilty plea, your case will be continued for further hearing and disposition before one of the 13 judges of this Court.
It is the Court’s responsibility to inform each person charged with an offense his or her rights. Therefore, you are hereby informed that you have the following substantive rights:
You have the right to know and understand the charges or charge against you.
You have the right to be presumed innocent and to require the prosecution to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
You have the right to a trial by jury and all but minor misdemeanor cases which must be tried to the judge assigned to your case.
You must demand a jury trial within the time set forth and the rules or it is waived.
You have the right to waive or give up a jury trial and still have your case tried to the judge assigned to your case.
You have the right to be represented by a lawyer at all stages of these proceedings even if you intend to enter a plea of Guilty or No Contest.
You have the right to have the Court appoint a lawyer to represent you if you are facing the possibility of jail and cannot afford to hire a lawyer to represent you.
You have the right to confront the witnesses against you and have those witnesses cross-examine.
You have the right to call witnesses in your own behalf and to compel reluctant witnesses to come forward through the use of the subpoena process.
You have the right to testify on your own behalf.
You have the right to remain silent and to exercise your constitutional right against self-incrimination should you choose to exercise that right then no one including the Court or the prosecuting attorney may comment upon your decision to do so. Anything that you do say however can be used against you.
Finally, you have the right to bail.
Additionally you are hereby informed that any conviction of a moving traffic violation will result in a record of your conviction being sent to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
If you are not a citizen of the United States you are also informed that a conviction of an offense or offenses to which you offer a Guilty or No Contest plea may have the consequences of deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States or denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United States.
These rights belong to every defendant who appears before this Court and will be protected by the Court today.
When your name is called please step forward and stand before the bench. The judicial officer will review with you the nature of the charge of charges against you and ask that you enter one of the pleas mentioned earlier in this announcement.
Should you decide to enter either a Guilty or No Contest plea you will also be informed of the maximum sanctions associated with that plea should it be accepted by the Court.
It is the order of this court that there shall be no talking while court is in session. Your failure to abide by this order may cause you to be found in contempt of court. Should that occur you could be fined up to $250 plus court costs and sentence up to 30 days in jail for each violation.
It is also ordered that all cell phones be turned off. Any device that disrupts these proceedings after the conclusion of this announcement may cause its owner to be held in contempt of Court and sanction accordingly. Additionally, the device may be taken from its owner.
Thank you for your attention and cooperation. We will now proceed with court.