When you go for an arraignment, do you go to jail THAT day, or do you get another court date?

4 Answers

• I will respectfully disagree with at least one poster above me. Arraignment is the legal process where a person is formally charged with the commission of a crime.

  At arraignment, by law, a defendant is only allowed to plead “not guilty”. If a defendant attempts to plead anything else (guilty, Nolo Contendre, Guilty with reason, etc) the Judge will not accept it.

  At this point, the Judge can do one of three things. He can set, raise or deny bail. (One other option is to ROR – Release on Recognizance – which means no money to be released until trial).

  Once the person is either released or held for trial, then the defendant can be brought in for pretrial. This is where disclosure takes place, the defendant is made aware of what is levied against him and what will be used. A deal may or may not be offered at this time. Or the entire case could be dismissed if it is felt it is not strong enough for trial.

  At any rate, to answer your specific question, your friend will have bail set or denied at his arraignment. Unless he is a major scofflaw, he will be going home that day and can plead a no contest at his pretrial/trial.

  Best of luck and I hope this is useful to you

• They will most likely take him to the county jail that day after the appearance, yes. If he pleads guilty or no contest, the judge will either set a new date for sentencing, or give him his sentencing that day. Most of the time, if the judge sets a new date, especially for something like driving with a suspended license, by the time he goes to see the judge again, it will be time served. He can expect not to get his license back for quite a while.

• Most likely they will give him bail (either out on money or his own word to come back). An arraignment is just to formally charge a person.

• If he is pleading out, his sentence MAY begin immediately.