YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE PRESUMED INNOCENT AT ALL STAGES OF THE PROCEEDING AND TO HAVE THE STATE PROVE YOUR GUILT BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. The State is not allowed to treat you like you’re guilty unless they’ve already proven it in a trial. This means that the Judge has to treat you like an innocent person when he/she decides whether to release you before the trial or hold you in jail. The Judge also has to treat you like an innocent person at every hearing, including the trial. It also means that the State has to present enough evidence to convince the Judge or a jury that you are guilty and no reasonable person would think otherwise. It’s your lawyer’s job to make sure that this right is carefully protected at every hearing or trial.

The only time that you can be presumed guilty under the law is AFTER you have been found guilty at a trial or after you have pled guilty by accepting a “plea agreement”.