
11 Arraignment
August 29th, 2013 by
11. Arraignment
This is a formality. An arraignment hearing is the first time that the court will formally notify an accused about the specific charges and will receive a plea of guilty or not guilty. It is the rare case when an accused will enter a guilty plea, but if so, the defendant will likely be sentenced at that time.
Many attorneys do not even conduct a formal arraignment in the sense of bringing the defendant up to the podium to have an individual audience with the judge. Rather, most counties meet informally with the defendant or his attorney and make a notation of a not guilty plea. Then the calendar is called before the judge and the notations are communicated to the court. At CLC, we provide you with a wide variety of services dealing with all of your legal needs. Our offices are located in Gainesville making it easy to provide our services for surrounding areas as well.
Many attorneys waive this arraignment hearing entirely by simply mailing in a written plea of not guilty. Even if you plan to enter a negotiated plea of guilty in your case, it is best to do so at a later time, after reflection and analysis of the evidence.
One important comment about the date of the scheduled arraignment: this date is the start of your ten day window within which to file all Pretrial motions, such as demands for discoverable evidence (police reports). If you fail to file such motions, you could forever lose the right to file those motions. The CLC is dedicated to each client that come through our doors. Each case is different and requires the full attention of an attorney. Our attorneys at CLC are qualified for any legal matters you may come across. Feel free to stop by our Gainesville location so that we may further assist you.