Referral for Prosecution

After booking, the case is referred to the prosecutor for the filing of charges. The prosecutor reviews the police report and determines which offense(s) the defendant committed. The prosecutor then prepares a criminal complaint, which is filed with the appropriate court, accusing a defendant with the commission of one or more crimes.

In this regard, the prosecution has great discretion as to what charges to file. Alternatively, in some jurisdictions, the prosecutor may choose to hold an informal hearing between the suspect and the victim, before filing charges, if the offense is a minor offense and not a violent one. Examples include neighbor disputes, noise violations and the like. If, however, after reading the police report and talking to the arresting officers, the prosecutor feels there is insufficient evidence of a crime, or what the defendant is accused of is not a crime, the prosecutor will refuse to file charges. This is known as a "DA reject" and the suspect is released.
Some offenses can be charged either as a felony or as a misdemeanor. These are informally known as wobblers. It is up to the prosecutor to decide weather to charge such an offense as a misdemeanor or as a felony.