I need to know what a prelimary hearing in a criminal case means?

Answers:
It means they want to determine if there is enough reason to go to trial

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1) It's a hearing by a judge, held in felony cases, to determine whether there is probable cause to hold a person charged with a crime for trial.

or-

2) A probable cause hearing which screens felony criminal cases by deciding whether there is enough evidence to warrant a trial. If the judge determines there is sufficient evidence, the defendant is "bound over" for trial. The defendant may waive this hearing.

They both mean the same thing...

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isn麓t that where the judge decides whether or not there is a case to answer

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A preliminary hearing is just what It says it is a pre-trial to see if there is enough evidence to actually have a trial. They do this in order to get rid of trials that does not need to be presenter to the judge. In other words they don't want to waste the judges time.

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A preliminary hearing is a hearing held by the court in which the government needs to present enough evidence to show that there is sufficient evidence to have a charge against someone (what some people refer to as "probable cause"). It is usually required to be held within a short time after the arrest (such as 20 days), and is usually limited to felonies (generally crimes that carry more than a year in jail as a possible sentence). It usually consists of a witness taking the stand on behalf of the government's case, usually a police officer, who explains what the evidence is. The legal rules are a little more flexible, as the witness is allowed to talk about what other people, including police officers or witnesses, told the witness about what happened (that is usually referred to as "hearsay" and is usually not allowed, but it is allowed during a preliminary hearing). The hearing may or may not also include a discussion on the defendant's release conditions, if any (e.g., whether the defendant should be released if he or she is in jail, what monetary bond is appropriate, is the defendant doing all that the court was requiring of him or her if they are on their personal promise to return). It is usually the first time that the defendant has a chance to challenge the evidence presented by the govenrment, as well as the first time that a court gets to review the evidence after having it challenged by the defendant. It is not a trial, however, and therefore the lvel of proof required by the government is not very high ("probable cause"-which is generally defined as more likely than not to have happened- as opposed to the trial, which is "beyond a reasonable doubt.")

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A preliminary hearing is a hearing where the judge decides if there was enough probable (more likely than not) cause for the arrest. If the judge decides that there was not enough probable cause, he or she may dismiss the charge, but even if the charge is dismissed the prosecuting agency may direct indict (take it to a grand jury) for the same charge. They don't always do this, but for serious charges they almost always do.