GTA:LS Judiciary

Get Involved

Located up the first set of stairs at City Hall

The LS Judiciary offers unique and rewarding roleplay for those who put the effort in. For example, as a solicitor you might do everything from representing a client at a police station to being the crown prosecutor in high-profile court cases. You can apply for the role of judge and solicitor by walking up to our very own paralegal Frank, located on the first floor of City Hall, and filling out the short application form. Frank also has additional information about the court system that might be useful for someone trying to get more involved. Alternatively you can check out the links below:

• Submit a Court Case
• Solicitor Application
• Judge Application
• Property Warrant Procedure
• Vehicle Seizure Procedure
• Court Hearing Procedures
• Ongoing & Previous Cases

Roles

Judge Antrim (L) and Solicitor Moretti (R)

Below you will find a summary of each role and occupation to help you understand how each piece in the legal system works.

Supreme Court Judge

The role of a “Supreme Court Judge” upholds the court and legal system of Los Santos; they will carry out a multitude of roles from commissioning of new judges and handing out solicitor licenses to carrying out the training of new appointees. Three Supreme Court Judges hold positions on the supreme court and on rare occasions will retry cases that have been successfully repealed from the lower courts. It’s the Senior Judges responsibility to make sure the court has legitimacy in the eyes of the city council as well as with the large factions that inhabit the island.

Judge

The role of a judge is to interpret the law in court proceedings, they will also have the role of accessing people for the role of solicitor and carry out sessions in court. Judges are also responsible for the flow of a trial and it’s their duty to make sure everyone involved knows what they’re doing, especially the Jury if one's present.

Solicitor

A solicitor is an individual who has been licensed by the court to carry out legal representation on behalf of the prosecution, or the defense.

General Court Rules

Solicitor Kourse (L) and Judge Antrim (R)

The judge has the final say on matters in the courtroom. Unruly behaviour during proceedings, can and will lead to extended imprisonment without appeal.

Compensation Orders

• You should list all costs you are wishing to claim form, including any legal fees
• Failure to pay, or appeal, compensation orders issued by the court within 7 days, will result in either: forceful taking of said payment from the account, or interest-payments being added to the total sum owed.

Witnesses

• Solicitors are required to organise and confirm the attendance of any witnesses they wish to call.
• All counsel and witnesses are required to wear formal clothing appropriate for the courtroom.
• If witnesses are unable to attend they should submit written statements which can be examined.

Court Summons:

• Every effort should be made by all parties to attend court. Failure to provide a reasonable excuse, in advance, will result in a court summons being issued.

• If you are requested to appear in court by a court order and you fail to appear you may receive an arrest warrant and you will be held in contempt of court unless you state a legitimate reason upto 24 hours before the court hearing/trial.

Evidence Admissibility

Evidence via video which is submitted to the court must be obtained by the following:

• Mobile Phone (Seen ingame)
• Body Cam (Must announce to all who are recorded that you are recording)
• CCTV cameras outside businesses / hospitals / police stations
• CCTV cameras in the room (If you have footage which you have recorded and you do not have a body cam, you may use it if there is CCTV in the room however you must collect the footage first in RP before you submit it to the courts.)
• Evidence being heard is at the discretion of the Judiciary team

Appealing a Court Verdict

Appeals of a court verdict:

• If you wish to appeal a verdict you may do so however you will need to send a formal appeal to the courts upto 7 days from the verdict. Once the formal appeal has been submitted you will receive a reply from the courts upto 7 days from the appeal submission date. Failure to do so will result in punishments.

All legal counsel (solicitors, barristers, judges) are expected to try and follow The Core Principles in the Bar Standards Board handbook.

Trial Procedures

Case Submission

Using the Court Case submission form solicitors should acquire all the details they need from their client and fill these in. The details from this form then automatically generates a case file document which is posted into the #los-santos-solicitors channels

When submitting a case there are four different types.

Pre-Hearing

A pre-trial hearing is where the legal parties get together in front of the Judge before a trial. At this point both the defence and prosecution have presented the evidence that they want to be shown at the trial, if one side believes some evidence shouldn’t go through to trial, this is where they make that case to the judge.

There are many valid reasons the Judge should stop evidence or witnesses making it to trial if they feel it wouldn't help the jury come to a fair and unprejudiced conclusion. For example, bringing up that a defendant is cheating on their wife (if it's not relevant to the crime) shouldn’t be allowed to make it to trial since it may inappropriately influence a jury into making a decision based on personal prejudice instead of the facts of the case.

Trial

In a criminal trial, the trier of fact (which can be either the judge or a jury) decides whether the defendant committed the crime. The standard used in criminal cases is "beyond a reasonable doubt" – that is, there is no reasonable doubt in the judge or jurors’ minds that the defendant committed the crime. If your trial is to go ahead with a jury It is their job to decide if the evidence they hear proves the defendant's guilt, and it's their job to consider the evidence not the law, and the Judge will guide them on law if necessary.  The judge must explain this to the Jury once they have been sworn in at the beginning of the trial, and before the jury goes in for deliberations.

You should call other solicitors ‘my learned friend’ – pronounced learn-ed (meaning qualified solicitor).

Opening statements

- Each side presents an overview of the case, from their perspective. The prosecution goes first, followed by the defense.

Witness testimony

- Each side can call pre-arranged witnesses and ask them questions about the case and/or the defendant.

Witness Questioning is performed as follows:

• Prosecution solicitor calls their witness
• Prosecution Solicitor asks their witness questions (examination in chief)
• Defence solicitor then asks the witness questions (Cross examination)
• Prosecution then has opportunity to ask the witness further questions, but only if those questions relate to a matter which has arisen during the cross examination (Re-examination)
• Once re-examination is complete the witness will leave the stand, and the next is called.
• After all the prosecution's witnesses have been called, the prosecution solicitor will announce to the court that those testimonies are the case for the prosecution.
• The defence solicitor then stands and has a chance to make an application of ‘No case to answer’ to the judge. This means they think the prosecution’s case is so flimsy in proving the defendant committed the alleged crime that the judge can find the defendant not guilty without the need for a defence.
• If the judge has considered there to be enough evidence, the trial will continue and the defence solicitor will now introduce their witnesses.
• Examination in chief
• Cross examination
• Re-examination
• Once re-examination is complete the witness will leave the stand, and the next is called.
• At the end the defence solicitor will declare that was the case for the defence.
• This is the end of witness questioning.

The questions being asked to the witnesses are not allowed to be leading questions and must be unbiased, for example:

Leading question: "How fast would you estimate Mr. Smith's car was traveling over the speed limit when he lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the victim's car?" (Leads the witness to the conclusion that Mr. Smith was speeding, and as a result lost control of his vehicle, leading to the accident, which was clearly his fault.)

Neutral question: "How fast would you estimate Mr. Smith's car was traveling before the collision?"

Leading questions are allowed however if it makes reference to something the witness has already said, for example, if the witness has stated the car was speeding, the question ‘How fast was the car spreading?’ becomes an appropriate question.

It is the judge's responsibility to stop unfair or misleading questions from being asked, and as the Judge has control of the courtroom they can at any point interject and explain proper procedure.

Closing Speech

- The prosecution, and then the defense, make a brief statement summarizing their side of the case.

Verdict And Sentencing

- The jury will return to their seats and the foreperson of the jury will announce their verdict. If found not guilty the judge will thank them for their service and release them. If found guilty the Jury will stay in their seats as the Judge sentences the defendant. If no Jury is present, then as trier of facts, the judge will have to decide whether the defendant is guilty, or not guilty. Either way the verdict is reached the Judge should use these guidelines to pass a fair sentence.