December 2009 UTC It is not common because almost every defendant in murder cases opts for a fast track trial but it may happen A fast track trial is a trial where no actual trial is involved I ll try to explain it A criminal proceeding in Italy consists of many phases 1 preliminary investigations 2 preliminary hearing 3 trial 4 appeals After the preliminary hearing the Judge only decides whether or not the evidence gathered so far is enough to sustain a case in Court If so he sends the defendant before the Judge of the Trial where he will be convicted or acquitted if not the Judge sort of acquits the defendant A defendant can though choose to give up his right to a trial He will be then tried by the Judge of the Preliminary Hearing who will hand down a judgement based upon the evidence gathered so far Since this is a reduction of the defendant s rights it must be he who asks for a fast track trial In exchange for that he is compensated with a lighter sentence If there are two or more defendants one may opt for a fast track trial and the other choose to stick to the standard pattern In this case since it would be unfair or so Italians think to let the wishes of one of them take precedence over those of the other the two defendants are tried separately even though they committed the same crime 14 05 11