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>LA Criminal Lawyer - Los Angeles County Arraignment - What You Can Expect at Your Arraignment
Understanding what happens at an arraignment is the key to understanding the job of a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer. All criminal defendants are entitled to be arraigned before a magistrate within 72 hours of arrest. In Los Angeles County, magistrates are almost always judges or commissioners. The arraignment is always the very first court appearance. It does not matter if a defendant is in custody or out of custody; the arraignment is the first time a defendant is in court.
At the arraignment all criminal defendants are entitled to be represented by an attorney. A defendant may represent themselves but this is highly discouraged by the court and never recommended thus the addage, "...a fool for an attorney". During the arraignment many important things happen. First, the charges against the defendant are read in open court and up until this point the defendant will not know what the exact charges are. The Los Angeles county District Attorney’s office often files the same act as several different counts. For instance, a burglary may also be charged as a grand theft even though only one item was stolen. The next important event that happens is a plea is entered to the charges .Usually, a “not guilty” plea is entered. Although, a defendant may plead “guilty” or “no contest” at this time but at this early stage that is usually unadvisable and almost never happens.
Once a not guilty plea is entered the judge must set a reasonable bail. Usually, this is set according to a bail schedule which each county has adopted. The next important thing that happens at an arraignment is that the defense attorney gets “discovery” for the first time. Discovery consists of the police reports and a list of most evidence against the defendant (although some discoveries such as lab analysis or witnesses who have not yet been interviewed may not be available at this time). At this point the next court date is scheduled. This new court date may be within days if the person is in custody or extended for a period of time if the defendant is out of custody. This depends on statutory time considerations which are beyond the scope of this discussion and legal strategy as determined by an experienced attorney like Jeff Rubenstein. The next stage will be a preliminary hearing, an early disposition conference, a bail hearing, or a pre-trial depending on the nature of the offense and the discretion of the attorney. All of these items are discussed in detail in other areas of the site.
Call the Los Angeles Criminal Defense legal team at the law offices of Jeffery K Rubenstein at 310-477-2100 today to schedule a free consultation and get on the road to taking care of your legal troubles today!