Legal Definitions - prosecution

Definition: Prosecution refers to the act of initiating a criminal charge against someone. This can happen when an indictment or information is filed, a complaint is filed charging a misdemeanor or infraction, the defendant is arraigned on a complaint that charged the defendant with a felony, or an arrest warrant or bench warrant is issued. The government agentresponsible for initiating a prosecution is called a prosecutor or district attorney.

For example, in California, the district attorney is the public prosecutor who attends the courts and initiates and conducts all prosecutions for public offenses. During a trial, the prosecution refers to the government's side, which tries to establish the defendant's guilt. When the prosecutor presents their entire case, they may say "the prosecution rests."

Prosecution can also refer to the process of obtaining a patent. This involves submitting a patent application and going through a series of steps to obtain a patent. If the application is rejected, the applicant can continue the prosecution of their application by addressing the reasons for the rejection and providing additional information or references.

Examples:

• John was arrested for stealing a car, and the district attorney decided to initiate a prosecution against him.
• The prosecution presented evidence that the defendant was at the scene of the crime, but the defense argued that the evidence was circumstantial.
• After receiving notice of rejection for his patent application, Tom decided to continue the prosecution of his application by addressing the reasons for the rejection.

In the first example, the district attorney is initiating a prosecution against John for stealing a car. In the second example, the prosecution refers to the government's side during a trial. In the third example, prosecution refers to the process of obtaining a patent.