A pretrial hearing is a meeting that occurs before a trial action begins, attended by the plaintiff, the defendant, the judge, the lawyers, and maybe other involved parties. Pretrial hearings aim to resolve some of the legal issues before the trial begins where the judge is informed of such things as whether the parties are ready for trial, have all of their witnesses lined up, motions that may still be pending and the status of negotiations if any. The judge will usually issue an immediate response to any issues raised during a pretrial conference.

The sure-fire way is to contact someone at the Clerk of the Court in the county where this is being tried.

Most facilities do not provide a forum for inmates to participate in civil lawsuits. The best you could hope for is the inmate to submit answers to the plaintiff's interrogatories. The inmate may then have their written answers notarized there.

It can definitely be done. But, you will have to have your lawyer do the coordinating. They know how the system works and getting all parties on the same page in goping to take some level of effort to accomplish.

All offenders will be afforded free legal counsel if they are unable to pay on thier own.

Yes to the first question. The mail room staff would have no idea about the restraining order and the letter would reach the inmate. The second question is a little tricky. If he knows he has a restraining order and willfully breaks it, it will add to his current woes in dealing with the current charges he is being held for. However, the jail will probably not stop him from calling

At what point in the process is he in? Has he make a plea, is this in trial or going to trial? If he has not advanced to those stages he is entitled to a lawyer AND and investigator paid for by the state or feds (if a federal trial). Yes, an investigator... most people don't know you get the benefit of this too. If you have information feed an investigator you might be able to pull off a minor

Yes, we have all gone through the process and although we are not lawyers, the system operates in a way where lawyers take advantage of people who don't know what is coming. We have experience from the side of the defendants, seen all the dirty tricks and paid the lawyers to navigate through all phases. We are very confident you will get an insight a real lawyer wouldn't tell you until after you paid them money they'll never refund.

No, its a step necessary for re-entry. We would caution your inmate to be careful not to violate while there for a short time.

It depends on the circumstances of the conviction. If there was a guilty plea involved, part of the language in that plea would have included a clause that forfeits any right to appeal at a later date.