a defendant to avoid the harsher sentences available in the Crown Court simply by accepting a summary trial. History The expression "hybrid offence" was applicable to an offence triable either on indictment or summarily. It was applicable to offences to which section 18 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 applied. See sections 14(c) and 64 of the Criminal Law Act 1977. Scotland In Scots law, all common law offences other than those within the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Justiciary (i.e. murder, treason, rape and breach of duty by magistrates) can be tried either summarily in the justice of the peace courts or Sheriff Courts, or on indictment in the High Court of Justiciary or Sheriff Court. For statutory offences, the statute will provide whether the offence is triable summarily, on indictment, or both. The choice of forum is a matter for the Lord Advocate and procurator fiscal, and is determined in a process known as marking. United States In U.S. states in which these offenses occur, the prosecuting attorney has discretion in deciding which category to charge the defendant. Prosecutors may strategically file such offenses as felonies, agreeing to refile the charge as a misdemeanor should the defendant consent to a guilty plea. After hearing evidence at a preliminary hearing, the judge or magistrate has discretion to reduce a felony wobbler to a misdemeanor charge; the opposite is not permitted. In juvenile court, after a minor is declared to be delinquent following a bench trial or open plea, the judge may classify a wobbler felony as a misdemeanor instead. California In California, one example of a wobbler offense is grand theft (PC487). In this case, the judge has the power to reduce a felony charge of this type to a misdemeanor during various stages of the proceeding, including the preliminary hearing all the way until after a defendant completes probation. References Criminal law