Arraignment is the first part of the court process, and is, for the most part, purely a procedural exercise to make sure you know your Constitutional rights and have the ability to exercise them if you choose to. At arraignment you are usually told you have the right to a Seattle criminal attorney, you have the right to a jury trial, you have the right to plead guilty or not guilty, and you have the right to make the state prove the charges against you. Additionally, at arraignment, the prosecutor is required to formally tell you what the charges are, you get to enter a plea on those charges, you get to enter a plea, and your next court date is set.
The formal charges part of an arraignment is a pretty straightforward process. At arraignment the prosecutor will usually give you a copy of the charges that have been filed against you. If you choose to hear it, the court will formally read the charges against you as laid out on the charging document. If you have a DUI defense attorney in Seattle you will often, if not always, waive the formal reading of the charges, since it is a procedural requirement only.
The plea is also a pretty straightforward process. If you don't have a Seattle DUI lawyer hired yet or assigned to you, the judge will suggest you plead not guilty until you can get someone to talk to. If you have hired a DUI attorney in Seattle before the arraignment, they will always plead not guilty. Word to the wise, if you are at arraignment without a lawyer, always plead not guilty. There will be time to work out a deal or try to get a dismissal later. This is not that time.
After all of the procedural stuff is done, the judge will discuss conditions of release (assuming you are not in custody). Conditions of release, by law, are supposed to be set to achieve two objectives: (1) get you to return for your next court date; and (2) to keep the public safe. Despite these rules, prosecutors will often ask for stringent conditions of release that have nothing to do with your appearing in court or keeping the public safe. It usually has everything to do with punishing you for being charged with Seattle DUI before you're even convicted.
If conditions of release come up, it is important to have a DUI lawyer in Seattle on your side to help you advocate for your release with minimal conditions imposed.
Up next on the Criminal Attorney in Seattle Blog - the pretrial conference.
Related Posts:
Seattle Criminal Attorney | Corpus Delicti
Seattle Criminal Attorney | DUI Consequences
