Motions come in many forms from both the defense and the prosecutors. They often ask the court to grant or deny some benefit or advantage to one side or the other. The application of law and judicial discretion are at work in these matters.
Clients and families for both the defendant and the alleged victim are sometimes present and occasionally involved at some level.
These motion hearings and the decisions that come from them are critical to the admissibility of evidence and sometimes decisive on whether to proceed to trial or not.