“Before conducting any search of the home or the assets of the suspect or arresting the suspect, the police usually must obtain a warrant from the court. For a warrant to be issued, the police shall provide enough specific facts to convince a reasonable person that there is probable cause that the suspect committed the crime. This standard is higher than ‘reasonable suspicion,’ but lower than ‘beyond a reasonable doubt,’ which is required for a criminal conviction.”

柳治平说：

“某种程度来说，被告享有的这些权利会束缚政府，降低案件的侦查效率，有时甚至可能会改变刑事案件的结果，但这是美国社会为其选择遵守的宪法原则付出的代价。”

“To a certain extent, these rights of the defendant hinder the government’s effort to investigate any criminal case, apprehend and prosecute the accused, and occasionally they may even operate to alter the outcome of a criminal case. However, this is the price that that United States chooses to pay in order to reduce the probability of malicious prosecutions and wrongful convictions of innocent civilians.”

柳治平律师介绍了在美国联邦法框架下，一个刑事案件在几个核心的程序步骤：

检察官指控（criminal complaint/charge）

本案中，6月30号的指控书的结尾说：“基于6月30号时候章同学仍然失联，还有本案调查中发现的其他事实，执法部门不相信章同学还活着”。也就是说，章莹颖生还概率理论上存在，现实上很低。

In this case, the end of the June 30th criminal complaint read: “As of June 30, 2017, Zhang Yingying remains missing. Based on this, and other facts uncovered during the investigation of this matter, law enforcement does not believe that Zhang Yingying is still alive.” This means that Zhang Yingying may still be alive, but the odds of that is very low.

大陪审团指控（grand jury indictment）

本案中，7月12日联邦大陪审团起诉了嫌疑人。

In this case, the grand jury indicted the suspect on July 12th.

联邦大陪审团由至多23名普通民众组成，至少16人出席大陪审团程序，至少12人投赞成票，其决定才有效。

A federal grand jury consists of at most 23 ordinary civilians. For it to conduct any business, at least 16 jurors must be present; at least 12 jurors must vote for any indictment for it to be legally valid.

过堂（arraignment）

本案中，7月20日嫌疑人过堂。

In this case, the suspect was arraigned on July 20th.