Arraignment

The first court appearance in a criminal case, where the charges are read and a plea is entered.

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What it means

An arraignment is the formal opening of a criminal case in court. The defendant is told what they are charged with, is advised of the right to counsel, and enters a plea. Conditions of release - bail, or release on conditions - are commonly addressed at or around the same appearance.

It is not a trial and no evidence is heard. Almost all defendants plead not guilty at this stage, including those who later resolve the case by agreement, because a not-guilty plea preserves every option while the evidence is still unknown.

The practical significance is timing rather than substance: it starts procedural clocks, and it is often the first point at which counsel is appointed for someone who cannot afford a lawyer.

In federal court the steps are fixed by rule. The arraignment takes place in open court. The court makes sure the defendant has a copy of the indictment or information, reads it or states its substance, and asks for a plea (Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 10(a)). The pleas available are not guilty, guilty, and, with the court's consent, nolo contendere (Rule 11(a)). A defendant may sometimes waive appearing in person by a written waiver signed by both defendant and counsel, entering a plea of not guilty (Rule 10(b)). The arraignment also sits inside the Speedy Trial Act's clock: a federal trial generally must begin within a fixed period counted from the indictment or the defendant's first appearance, whichever is later, with certain delays excluded (18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1), (h)).

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

Ideally before the hearing rather than after it. Anyone who cannot afford a lawyer should say so on the record at the arraignment, as that is the mechanism by which counsel is appointed - and statements made in court before advice is obtained cannot be withdrawn.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

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Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• Bail and Pretrial ReleaseThe decision about whether someone stays in custody while their case is pending - which is about appearance and safety, not about guilt.
• Bench Warrant and Failure to AppearThe arrest warrant a judge issues from the bench when a defendant misses a court date or violates a court order - what it authorizes, the separate failure-to-appear charge and bond forfeiture that often follow, and how a person clears one by surrendering on their own terms rather than being picked up.
• Criminal RestitutionThe order, entered at sentencing, requiring a defendant to repay the victim's losses caused by the offense - what losses it covers, how it differs from a fine and from a civil judgment, the payment schedule and enforcement, and why it survives bankruptcy and the end of the sentence.
• Double JeopardyThe constitutional bar on being tried twice for the same offense after an acquittal or conviction, or punished twice for it - when jeopardy attaches, what counts as the "same offense", the mistrial and appeal exceptions, and why a state and the federal government may each prosecute the same act.
• Expungement and Record SealingCourt processes that erase or restrict access to a criminal record, available only in defined circumstances that vary by state.
• Felony and MisdemeanorThe basic division of criminal offenses by seriousness - which drives the procedure, the possible sentence, and the consequences that outlast it.
• Grand Jury and IndictmentA closed proceeding in which citizens decide whether there is enough evidence to charge someone - not whether they are guilty.
• Miranda RightsThe warning police must give before questioning someone in custody - and the reason a missing warning suppresses a statement rather than ending a case.
• Motion to Suppress (Exclusionary Rule)The pretrial request to keep evidence out of a criminal trial because it was obtained in violation of the Constitution - an unlawful search, an involuntary or un-warned confession, a suggestive identification - the hearing it triggers, the "fruit of the poisonous tree" rule, and the exceptions that let evidence in anyway.
• Plea BargainAn agreement resolving a criminal case by guilty plea, usually in exchange for reduced charges or a sentencing concession.
• Preliminary HearingAn early court hearing at which a judge decides whether there is enough evidence for a case to proceed - the defense's first real look at it.
• Pretrial Diversion and Deferred AdjudicationThe programs that let an eligible defendant avoid a conviction by completing conditions - treatment, classes, community service, restitution - after which the charge is dismissed; the difference between diversion before a plea and deferred adjudication after one, and what each does to the record.
• Probable CauseThe level of justification the Fourth Amendment requires before police may arrest someone or search a place - more than a hunch, and less than proof.
• Probation and Parole ViolationWhat happens when someone under supervision is said to have broken its conditions - a proceeding with fewer protections than the trial that preceded it.
• Right to a Speedy TrialThe constitutional guarantee that a criminal case be brought to trial without unreasonable delay, and the statutes in the federal system and most states that put a clock on it - what starts the clock, what stops it, why a defendant's own motions extend it, and the remedy of dismissal when it runs out.
• Right to Counsel and the Public DefenderThe Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer in a criminal case, including one paid for by the state if the defendant cannot afford one.
• Search WarrantA judge's written authorization to search a specified place for specified things - and the exceptions that let police search without one are broad.
• Self-Defense and JustificationThe defense that a use of force was lawful because it was necessary to protect oneself or another from imminent unlawful force - the reasonableness and proportionality requirements, the duty-to-retreat and stand-your-ground split among the states, the castle doctrine, and who bears the burden once the defense is raised.
• Sentencing and EnhancementsHow a criminal sentence is decided after a plea or verdict - the statutory range, the guidelines or presumptive scheme the jurisdiction uses, the enhancements for prior convictions, weapons, victims and quantities that raise it, the presentence report, and the constitutional rule that any fact raising the maximum must be found by a jury.

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