Commencement, Answer, Trial, Appeal
There is a consistent pattern that all court cases will follow. The acronym "CPATPA" may help you to remember it.
Commencement
A court action always commences with the presentment of primary pleadings. In a civil matter, that's typically called a "complaint" or a "petition". In a criminal matter, that's typically called an "indictment" or an "information".
The primary pleadings are presented to the court, and then the defendant is served a copy, along with a court summons, so the defendant will know when and where to show up in court, and what it's all about.
Pre-trial Motions
Also known as "the flurry of motions", this early phase is an opportunity to address threshold issues such as jurisdiction or venue, to set aside the primary pleadings, to dismiss charges, to give notice of a bar to prosecution such as a statute of limitations, to exclude evidence, etc.
Answer
When one party has brought a matter before the court, essentially asking the court for help to adjudicate a matter, that triggers the need for the other party to stand and answer. The court generally does not need to get involved until after there has been a proper answer.
In a criminal matter, the answer of the defendant is technically called a "plea". Depending on how the defendant responds, there may or may not be anything left for the court to adjudicate.
Trial
This is the courtroom scene that would typically come to mind. There's a judge, a witness stand, a court reporter, and probably a jury, not to mention the court watchers. There's a plaintiff table and a defendant table. At this event, all of the witness testimony and other evidence will be presented to the court, filtered through the rules of evidence by parties' objections, and the law will be presented for application to those evidentiary facts.
In a criminal trial before a jury, it might be broken down like this:
- Pretrial motions
- Jury selection (voir dire)
- Government's opening statements
- Defendant's opening statements
- Government's case-in-chief
- Defendant's case-in-chief
- Government's rebuttal
- Jury charge conference
- Government's closing arguments
- Defendant's closing arguments
- Jury deliberations, verdict
- Sentencing (if defendant was found guilty of anything)
If you don't win, but you've diligently preserved error to set the record for appeal, then you'll be able to have an appellate court review the trial court's errors.
Post-trial Motions
Just because the judge bangs his gavel doesn't mean it's over. There is a period of time (varying lengths, defined by a state's legislators, or by a state's supreme court) after the judgement, during which the judge could exercise "plenary" jurisdiction/power to reform, modify, correct, etc. as he believes would serve the ends of justice. During that time period, you may request findings of fact and conclusions of law, which means the judge should explain in writing why he ruled the way he did. You may file a motion to reconsider. Or a motion to re-hear, a motion for a new trial.
Appeal
If the trial court errs, and you need a higher court to address the judicial error that you believe occurred, you'll write up an appellate brief, succinctly identifying what specific judicial error you need the higher court to review.
Of course, maybe the trial will result in what you perceive to be a just outcome, so there will be no need for appealing. However, it is wise to go ahead and prepare, not only psychologically but also in terms of paperwork. It is wise to already figure out in advance which court is your next step, if needed.