Overview

The Felony Division is responsible for the prosecution of all serious adult offenders in the Wayne County Common Pleas Court.  In general, felony offenses are crimes which carry a potential prison sentence of a year or more.  Those crimes include high-value theft, illicit possession of drugs with a high potential for abuse, drug trafficking, repeated domestic violence, rape, robbery, burglary, and murder.  Prosecutors in the Felony Division begin the prosecution of felony cases by presenting them to the grand jury. If the grand jury indicts, then the Felony Division prosecutors carry those cases through arraignment, pretrial conferences, pretrial hearings, pleas, trial, and sentencing.  Except for murder (an “unclassified” felony), the seriousness of felony offenses is denoted by degrees.  For example, a felony of the 1st degree is the most serious felony offense, while a felony of the 5th degree is the least serious.