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Interaction with the criminal justice system can be quite scary and intimidating. Unfortunately, this system is not as efficient as what is often depicted on television.  A criminal case can take months or years to finalize, and there are several appearances that may be made prior to the resolution of your case.  MA'AT LAW will help you navigate through this system and make informed decisions throughout your prosecution.  
                                          General Criminal Process
  • 1st Appearance - typically held inside of the jail, a magistrate judge will inform the defendant of the charges (as per the arrest warrant(s) that is holding him/her in jail.  At this time, the magistrate will also consider giving the defendant a bond.  Note: there are some crimes (i.e. murder, rape, armed robbery, trafficking) that the magistrate is unauthorized to give bond on.
  • Preliminary Hearing - typically scheduled 2-5 weeks after arrest, if the defendant is not given a bond or is still incarcerated, this hearing is held to provide an opportunity for the magistrate judge to hear facts from the perspective of the officer in support of the defendant's arrest.  The judge will determine whether probable cause existed for the existing charges.  The judge also determines whether charges should be added to, subtracted from, or replaced with the existing charges.  
  • Bond Hearing - this hearing can be done to acquire or modify a defendant's bond. 
  • Arraignment - it can take several years (up to 2 years for a misdemeanor charge and up to 4 years for a felony charge) before this appearance is scheduled.  This is officially the initiation of a case's prosecution and is at this hearing that a defendant is formally notified of the charges he/she is being prosecuted for.  Note that the charges that the prosecutor moves forward on can be different from those that the defendant was arrested on.
  • Motions Hearing - depending on the case, motions will be filed requesting that the judge consider legal reasoning and suppress (or keep out during a trial) certain evidence 
  • Pretrial Hearing - this is an opportunity for the prosecutor and defense attorney to discuss the case and negotiate a resolution.  If unable to agree on a resolution, the prosecutor and the defense will present facts to the judge and propose a resolution for the judge's consideration.  
  • Calendar Call - at this hearing, the defendant and prosecutor independently inform the Judge of his / her preparedness for trial; the judge takes this information and determines which cases on the docket will move forward with trial ... and when.
  • Trial Calendar - a time frame designated by the judge  during which time trials will be held.  Once a case is on the trial calendar, the defendant is expected to be ready for trial, with the understanding that the defendant could be "called in" for his/her specific trial at any time during the "calendar", which is typically a 2-4 week time frame.  If the case is not "reached" or "called-in" during the calendar, the case will roll over to the next calendar and the defendant will have to appear for the next calendar call.

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