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There are different procedures for setting a court date whether you are having a jury trial for a misdemeanor case, or a felony case.

For a misdemeanor case, the defendant has the right to a speedy trial and the law will determine when a defendant will be brought to court. However, the trial must start within 30 days of the arraignment or plea, IF the defendant was in custody at the time of the arraignment. If the defendant wasn’t in custody at the time of the arraignment, the trail will start within 45 days of the plea or arraignment. Either one depends on what was later, the plea or the arraignment.

The defendant can choose to go to trail after the deadline, thereby waiving his rights to a speedy trial. Even so, the trail will be set to start within 10 days after the trail date is set. It’s best to get the advice of your lawyer before deciding to waive your rights.

As with a misdemeanor case, the law will determine when the defendant of a felony case will be taken in to trial. the trial will be set to start within 60 days of the arraignment of the Information that the prosecutor must submit within 15 days of the date when the defendant was at the preliminary hearing.

The defendant in a felony case can waive their rights to a speedy trail as well but this means they will have their trail after the 60-day deadline. Again, before waiving any rights it’s best to consult your lawyer.

Everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty and the prosecution’s role is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant is guilty. The defense team’s job is to do just that, defend the defendant and prove his/her innocence. When it comes to trials, there are two types of trials that most defendants are able to choose from before the actual trial: a court trail or a jury trial.

A court trial is when there is only a judge to make a ruling on the defendant’s guilt.

A jury trial is chosen when the defendant wants to have the evidence seen and heard by a group of his/her peers. This jury will then have to decide on the guilt of the defendant. The jury is chosen by first gathering a random selection of people to build your jury from. Both the defense team and the prosecution team along with the judge ruling over the trial will help in making the jury selection. Choosing a jury is a long and rigorous procedure and every detail of the person’s lifestyle, character and moral judgement is scrutinized before a judgement is made on whether or not they will be on the jury.

After the arraignment, the judge will hold a preliminary hearing (if the case does not get dismissed or isn’t settled) where the judge will decide if there is enough evidence against the defendant to prove that he’s committed a crime, thereby moving forward to trial. If the ruling is that the case will go to trial then the prosecutor will file a document called ‘The Information’ which will be used to arraign the accused a second time. During this time, the defendant will enter a plea and the case will move forward to trial.

Before this trial, the prosecution with exchange any information with the defense. The defendants will be restricted to what information they are about to access as a precautionary measure to protect all the witnesses involved in the case. The lawyers will have access to this information however to best present their case to the court.

Also at this time, both sides of the case will be able to file motions such as motions to cancel a complaint or to dismiss the case, etc. The defendant can change their plea before the trial as well and the judge and lawyers may go into discussions about how to avoid a trial all together and settle this case outside of court.

If a defendant enters a ‘not guilty’ plea in a misdemeanor case, after the arraignment and before the trial, then the prosecution and defence will need exchange information. During this ‘discovery’ the defendant will be limited in what information he/she will have access to but the lawyers are often given full access. However the lawyers must protect peoples identities such as witnesses, and can’t reveal things to their clients or the public. For this reason, it is crucial the accused to seek professional counsel because they will have access to more information pertaining to his/her case and therefore will be able to best defend them in their case.

The defendant can change their plea before the trial and the defendant and prosecutor can file pretrail motions; for things from motions to set aside a complaint to issues with evidence being included in the trial. During this time the judge and lawyers for both sides will be able to discuss how to resolve the case and avoid going to trail. For more information please call the criminal defense attorney in Orange County to discuss your case.

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.

 Orange County criminal defense attorney ready to help you with your criminal defense case.