You’ve heard the phrase “the charges have been dropped” in a variety of circumstances. Maybe it’s after a high-profile arrest fizzles out before going to trial. Perhaps it’s a source of relief if you’ve been in the crosshairs of law enforcement. Or maybe it’s just something you heard watching a movie or a police drama TV show.
Whatever the situation, perhaps you wondered the simple question of “Why?” After all the trouble and expense required to get an arrest, why do prosecutors drop charges?
Shortcomings of evidence
The district attorney may simply decide that the evidence isn’t sufficient to get a conviction. The standards of evidence that a police officer must meet before making an arrest is substantially lower than that which may be required to convince a jury.
A police officer simply needs probable cause. While this standard isn’t necessarily easy and certainly requires more hard evidence than an officer’s gut feeling, it’s also much lower than the “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” standard a prosecuting attorney must meet at trial. The prosecutor has to make a judgment call on whether they have a legitimate chance to get a conviction.
The post-arrest investigation may also lead to dropped charges. New evidence may undermine the initial case. It’s also possible that the victim may have a change of heart. This happens most often in domestic violence cases, where a victim will decide they are no longer willing to testify at trial.
It’s important to note that the victim of a crime doesn’t have the power to have charges dropped. That power resides strictly with the prosecutor. But in practical terms, a victim unwilling to cooperate reduces the amount of evidence the prosecution might present at trial.
Fourth Amendment violations
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is what protects citizens against unlawful search and seizure—or more plainly, requires that officers have a search warrant to enter your property.
Evidence seized in a warrantless search will be inadmissible in court. The same goes if officers failed to properly implement an otherwise valid warrant. An example here would be an officer’s failure to knock and announce oneself. There are occasions where a warrant will not require this—such as situations where the potential for violence exists if the person behind the door is forewarned. But unless the warrant specifically authorizes a “no knock” entry, the presumption is the officer must knock and announce, lest the search be declared illegal.
Probable cause to make an arrest also falls under Fourth Amendment protection. A person arrested without probable cause will likely have to be released, even if they were guilty of the suspected crime.
Procedural issues
Police must not only follow proper protocol in making an arrest, but they also have to get their paperwork correct. There is a strict procedure for everything from the arrest itself to booking and interrogation to setting a bail hearing. Violation of any protocol might result in the dismissal of a charge.
There are different rules for each state (and even each city) and the documentation must be done by the arresting officer. While the officer can correct any honest mistakes made, it’s important to note that only they can make such edits. This may seem like a minor point, but cases that take a long time to process can see an officer relocate or otherwise be unavailable. If the case is low-level enough, the prosecutor might decide its no longer worth the trouble.
Lack of resources
As long as we’re on the subject of “no longer worth the trouble,” let’s come to the strained budgets and staffs that most prosecutors have to deal with. Some cases simply aren’t high priority enough to justify pursuing in a world of limits. If the crime is minor and the defendant has no previous record, the prosecutor might deem it a better use of resources to simply move on.
Another factor involved here, unfortunately, may be the legal firepower the defendant has on hand. A high-powered legal defense team might well scare off a prosecutor unless the case is absolutely airtight.
Willingness to cooperate
These would be the situations that often appear on television. Someone caught peddling heroin might be cut loose if they name some names further up the food chain. If the criminal has something of value to offer the prosecutor, they are in a position to make a deal and get charges either reduced or dropped.
Grand jury dismissal
Some cases require the convening of a grand jury to decide if there is enough evidence to justify going to trial. This happens frequently in high-profile cases involving white-collar crime by powerful people. The grand jury is a way for prosecutors to get a sense of how a jury will respond to their evidence before going through the expense of a trial.
Upon dismissal
Once charges are dismissed, they can be done so in 2 ways. One is “without prejudice,” which means the prosecutor can refile the case at a later date. The other way, naturally preferred by the person charged, is “with prejudice,” meaning the charges can’t be refiled.
In a perfect world, all guilty people would be charged and those who were innocent never arrested. That perfection is unattainable and the American criminal justice system has dealt with that by choosing to err on the side of releasing the guilty rather than convicting the innocent.
That’s why the process of obtaining a conviction is so demanding and why there are so many possible ways charges can be dropped.