A Newton Hearing is a form of
minitrial without a jury, when a judge establishes any disputed facts of a case.
There, a judge will decide if a Newton hearing, a form of
minitrial, needs to be held to determine the true facts of the case before passing sentence.
The implementing rules of this landmark law defined the ADR system as a 'process or procedure used to resolve a dispute or controversy, other than by adjudication of a presiding judge of a court or an officer of a government agency, xxx, in which a neutral third person participates to assist in the resolution of issues, including arbitration, mediation, conciliation, early neutral evaluation,
minitrial or any combination thereof.'
These alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques can include mediation, early neutral evaluation,
minitrial and arbitration.
The civil forfeiture actions act as a
minitrial where the court can find that the defendant's assets are tied to criminal activity, which in turn makes the defendant appear as though he or she has been involved in that criminal activity because of his or her claim over the illegally obtained assets.
(194) Some of these should be apparent without either a
minitrial or any invasion of attorney-client privilege.
O conceito formal das ADR foi assim formulado pela lei federal conhecida como Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 1998: "For purposes of this chapter, an alternative dispute resolution process includes any process or procedure, other than an adjudication by a presiding judge, in which a neutral third party participates to assist in the resolution of issues in controversy, through processes such as early neutral evaluation, mediation,
minitrial, and arbitration...." (9).
Resnik (39) indica as seguintes mais conhecidas tecnicas alternativas de resolucao de conflitos nos Estados Unidos, que serao analisadas mais abaixo: a court-annexed arbitration, a mediation, o summary jury trial, o
minitrial, a early neutral evaluation, e as judicial settlement conferences.
Each district court shall provide litigants in all civil cases with at least one alternative dispute resolution process, including, but not limited to, mediation, early neutral evaluation,
minitrial, and arbitration as authorized in sections 654 through 658.
(87) The hearing to address the applicability of the long-arm statute is in the nature of a "
minitrial" at which time the issue of the applicability of the long-arm statute is decided.
(51) Although it is often said that the confirmation is not to be a "
minitrial," it is difficult to see how the two are distinct if the prosecutor is largely obliged to complete her investigation before confirmation and present her strongest possible case, or all her evidence, at the hearing itself.