Missouri Laws > Chapter 565 – Offenses Against the Person
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Terms Used In Missouri Laws > Chapter 565 - Offenses Against the Person
- Adequate cause: cause that would reasonably produce a degree of passion in a person of ordinary temperament sufficient to substantially impair an ordinary person's capacity for self-control. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
- Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Child: a person under seventeen years of age. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Conduct: includes any act or omission. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Course of conduct: a pattern of conduct composed of two or more acts, which may include communication by any means, over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Deliberation: cool reflection for any length of time no matter how brief. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- Domestic victim: a household or family member as the term "family" or "household member" is defined in section 455. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Emotional distress: something markedly greater than the level of uneasiness, nervousness, unhappiness, or the like which are commonly experienced in day-to-day living. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- films: the making of any photograph, motion picture film, videotape, or any other recording or transmission of the image of a person. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Full or partial nudity: the showing of all or any part of the human genitals, pubic area, buttock, or any part of the nipple of the breast of any female person, with less than a fully opaque covering. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Juror: A person who is on the jury.
- Legal custody: the right to the care, custody and control of a child. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
- Parent: either a biological parent or a parent by adoption. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Person having a right of custody: a parent or legal guardian of the child. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Place of residence: means the place where the family of any person permanently resides in this state, and the place where any person having no family generally lodges. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
- Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
- Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
- Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
- Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
- Special victim: any of the following:
(a) A law enforcement officer assaulted in the performance of his or her official duties or as a direct result of such official duties. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Sudden passion: passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the victim or another acting with the victim which passion arises at the time of the offense and is not solely the result of former provocation. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
- Trier: the judge or jurors to whom issues of fact, guilt or innocence, or the assessment and declaration of punishment are submitted for decision. See Missouri Laws 565.002
- Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
- Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.