The unlawful use of force against another with unusual or serious consequences such as the use of a dangerous weapon.

To state, recite, assert, claim, maintain, charge or set forth. To make an allegation.

Asserted to be true as depicted or a person who is accused but has not yet been tried in court.

A defendant's statement in mitigation of punishment.

Settling a dispute without a full, formal trial. Methods include mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and settlement,  among others.

To change, correct, revise, improve, modify, or alter.

The correction of an error admitted in any process.

A case summary or commentary on the law cases, statutes, and rules illustrating its interpretation.

Yearly judicial review, usually in juvenile dependency cases, to determine whether the child requires continued court supervision or placement.

The defendant's response to the plaintiff's allegations as stated in a complaint. An item-by-item, paragraph-by- paragraph response to points made in a complaint; part of the pleadings.

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."

Any factors associated with the commission of a crime which increase the seriousness of the offense or add to its injurious consequences.

A coming into court as party or interested person or as a lawyer on behalf of party or interested person.

The party appealing a final decision or judgment.

A court having jurisdiction to hear appeals and review a trial court's procedure.

The appellate court has the right to review and revise the lower court decision.

The party against whom an appeal is taken. Sometimes called a respondent.

The referral of a dispute to an impartial third person chosen by the parties to the dispute who agree in advance to abide by the arbitrator's award issued after a hearing at which both parties have an opportunity to be heard.

Remarks addressed by attorney to judge or jury on the merits of case or on points of law.

The procedure where the accused is brought before the court to hear the criminal charge(s) against him or her and to enter a plea of either guilty, not guilty or no contest.

A proceeding in which the accused is brought before the court to plead to the criminal charge in the indictment or information. The charge is read to him or her and he or she is asked to plead guilty or not guilty or, where permitted, nolo contendere (no contest). Another term for preliminary hearing.

To deprive a person of his liberty by legal authority.

A statement of all important facts, which all the parties agree is true and correct, which is submitted to a court for ruling.

The malicious burning of someone else's or one's own dwelling or of anyone's commercial or industrial property.

A mutual understanding and intention between two or more parties. The writing or instrument which is evidence of an agreement. (Although often used as synonymous with contract, agreement is a broader term.)

Help, assist, or facilitate the commission of a crime.

A special type of guilty plea by which a defendant does not admit guilt but concedes that the State has sufficient evidence to convict; normally made to avoid the threat of greater punishment. Source: Black's Law Dictionary (1996); North Carolina v. Alford , 400 U.S. 25 (1970).

A defense claim that the accused was somewhere else at the time a crime was committed.

A court-ordered allowance that one spouse pays the other spouse for maintenance and support while they are either separated, pending suit for divorce, or after they are divorced.

The assertion of a party to an action, setting out what he expects to prove.