Criminal Complaint

A criminal complaint is the documents which must be filed with the court to initiate a formal criminal proceeding. Although many people assume the process starts with the arrest, there are many alleged offenders who are arrested for a crime but are never formally charged.

A criminal complaint is generally filed after the police have made an arrest. The state prosecution reviews the arrest report and all evidence for the crime and the state decides whether there is sufficient evidence to file the official criminal complaint.

It’s important to note, however, that some criminal processes may proceed without a criminal complaint (i.e., some states may allow a person to be charged either by criminal complaint or by a grand jury indictment). Criminal complaints are most often filed if state or federal laws are broken and the defendant has been charged with a misdemeanor or a felony.

What is contained on the criminal complaint?

Regardless of whether the state or federal court files the complaint, the complaint should state the formal charges that have been filed against you by the state, information about the specific facts of the case in which you are charged, the law or statute which the state believes you have violated, and probable cause that you were the person who committed the crime.

Proving the Criminal Complaint is not valid

Under some conditions, you and your attorney may be able to prove the complaint is incomplete or inaccurate and request that the complaint be dismissed by the court. For example, if the state fails to provide probable cause for the charges, they do not properly state all the essential elements of the crime or there are any other errors on the complaint, a criminal defense attorney should challenge it.