An arraignment is with first time a defendant appears in court for his case. At this hearing the judge will tell the defendant what the charges are, what his rights are including his right to a lawyer (if the defendant doesn’t have money for a lawyer, the court will appoint one for free). Once this is done the defendant must make his plea, usually a plea og ‘guilty’, ‘not guilty’ or ‘no contest’.

Next, if the defendant happens to be in custody at the time of the arraignment, the judge will either:

-Release the defendant with a promise to return for their court date ( recognizance),
-Set an amount for bail and then return the defendant to jail to wait for bail to be posted,
-Send the defendant back to jail without setting bail.

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