Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

After a preliminary hearing, the District Attorney files a new charging document called an information. Under Penal Code 995, the defense can move to dismiss the information, on the grounds it was issued without the proper showing of probable cause.

995 motions are often made after a judge denies a motion to suppress evidence. The defense then files a 995 motion, alleging the information presented at the preliminary hearing was illegally obtained and cannot be used to support a finding of probable cause.

Sometimes the prosecution forgets to present evidence on an element of the offense at the preliminary hearing, which would be grounds for a 995 motion. There are other possible grounds for a 995 motion as well.