Arts. 299 and 306 LECrim
Concept and direction
The sumario gathers the proceedings to prepare the trial: verification of the offence, identification of the offenders and securing of liabilities, under the direction of the investigating judge with the prosecutor’s inspection. The time limit of art. 324 also governs here: eternal sumarios are no longer legal. Art. 324 governs sumarios too: multi-year macro-cases require the string of valid extensions. We audit the complete calendar when appearing in inherited cases: eternal investigations usually hide out-of-time measures to be excluded.
Art. 384 LECrim
The indictment order (auto de procesamiento)
As soon as some rational indication of criminality against a specific person appears, the judge issues the indictment order. It is the formal imputation of the sumario: it enables measures, defines the subjective perimeter and is challenged through reform and appeal. Its absence prevents accusation: no one reaches an ordinary trial without being indicted.
In practice
Individualised indications, not block indictments
The indictment requires individualised rational indications: orders indicting dozens “in block” are appealed with partial success. And the non-indicted person cannot be accused: we watch that the qualifications respect the subjective perimeter of the order; surprise extensions are null.
Arts. 622 to 633 LECrim
Conclusion and intermediate phase
Once the measures are carried out, the judge declares the sumario concluded and sends it up to the Provincial Court, which hears the parties on the confirmation or revocation of the conclusion order (art. 627: the key stage for requesting omitted measures) and decides between revoking, dismissing or opening the trial. A well-argued revocation returns the sumario to the investigation: a second evidentiary opportunity.
In practice
The stage of art. 627, the last window
The stage of art. 627 is the last evidentiary window and it is used: essential omitted measures, with relevance argued as in an appeal. Revocations of the conclusion are obtained more often than believed when the request is surgical, not a memorial of grievances.
Arts. 649 to 665 LECrim
Qualifications
Once the trial is opened, the parties qualify provisionally: facts, legal qualification, participation, circumstances and penalties, with proposal of evidence. The provisional conclusions delimit the debate; their modification after the evidence (art. 732) has limits that protect the defence. The provisional conclusions set the accusatory ceiling: substantial modifications after the evidence activate the protection of art. 733 and a possible suspension to prepare the defence. We protest every essential mutation: the trial is not an ambush.
Arts. 666 to 679 LECrim
Preliminary questions
Before the trial, the following may be raised as preliminary questions: declinature of jurisdiction, res judicata, limitation and pardon: resolving them avoids entire trials. Limitation as a preliminary question is the royal road when the computation is favourable. Its dismissal does not preclude raising it again in the judgment: a double opportunity that we administer.
Arts. 680 et seq. LECrim
Trial before the Provincial Court
A hearing with three judges, plenary taking of evidence and a judgment appealable before the High Court of Justice (art. 846 ter) and then in cassation. Sumario cases are also those of long pre-trial detention: the management of the time limits of art. 504 accompanies the whole strategy. The trial before three judges rewards technique over theatre: surgical examinations and solid expert evidence. The appeal to the High Court requires designing the trial with the appeal in mind: protests, records and time-stamps are the raw material of later success.
Sumario versus abbreviated
Choosing the channel when possible
The route depends on the abstract penalty: above 9 years, sumario before the Provincial Court, with indictment order, its own intermediate phase and a collegiate court. If the reasonable qualification does not exceed 9 years, fighting for the transformation to the abbreviated procedure is possible and sometimes advisable; at other times the sumario, with its double filter, favours the defence.
