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Your arraignment will take place soon after you have been arrested and charges have been filed against you. The date of your arraignment will be on your citation, if you received one. If you do not have any paperwork, ask jail staff for information regarding your court appearance. This date is important to know for at least a couple of reasons. First, the arraignment is an important hearing and you need to make sure you show up if you are not in jail. If you are in jail, court and jail personnel will ensure you make it to your appearance on time.
Second, requests for continuances should be filed a number of days before your arraignment, if possible. Therefore, you should know the date of your arraignment so you know when you need to file your request. Start drafting your request in a timely manner. In most states, continuances are more likely to be granted if they are filed well before the arraignment date. For example, in Pennsylvania, a continuance request is scrutinized differently if it is made within 10 days of the hearing date. If your request is made at least 10 days in advance, the judge will look at your request to determine if there is good cause for the postponement.
However, if you file your request within the 10 day period, the judge will only consider it if the reason for your request arose within that 10 day period. With that being said, you still need to file your request as soon as possible. Understand common reasons for making a request. Every state should have a statute, judicial decision, and or court rule laying out valid reasons for continuances.
Your continuance request must indicate why you are asking for the continuance and you should provide a short legal analysis if possible. For example, in Connecticut, some valid reasons for a continuance include counsel not being ready, counsel not being available, and you as a party not being available. Judges will make their ruling with the intent to discourage repeated delays and delays for improper reasons.
When the judge reviews your request, he or she will want to know the positions of all the parties, the number of prior continuances requested, whether a postponement will prejudice the prosecution, the unavailability of parties, and the desirability of unrepresented parties obtaining counsel. Avoid conflicts whenever possible. If it is possible to reschedule conflicts and get through the arraignment without a postponement, you should do so.
Filing a continuance request this early in the judicial process may hurt your ability to get a continuance down the road. However, not all conflicts can be avoided and not every continuance request is a bad one. If you truly have a good reason for asking the court for a postponement, you should do so. Identify yourself in the request.
Whether you are writing the request on your own or asking your lawyer to do it for you, you need to understand what goes into a proper request. The first part of your written request should identify you and your case. Sally Jane, Case No. I am the defendant in that case.
Include a statement about every party's position on the continuance. Most states will require that you reach out to the prosecution and request an agreement on the postponement or provide a good reason for not doing so. If you are unrepresented at this time, do not, under any circumstance, reach out to the prosecution. You do not want to incriminate yourself by talking to opposing counsel and most prosecutors are not allowed to speak to defendants outside of court anyway.
For example, if you have defense counsel on your side, your request might read: "The prosecution has been made aware of our continuance request and they have informed us that it will not be opposed. The prosecution is willing to agree to the postponement in accordance with this request.
This is the case because, as an unrepresented criminal defendant, I am unwilling to subject myself to a discussion with opposing counsel without first consulting my own lawyer. Detail your reasons for asking for a continuance. Asking to have an arraignment postponed usually happens because counsel is not prepared, has not been hired, or has not been appointed. For example, if you have not been able to hire a defense lawyer yet, your request might read: "I am requesting a postponement because I have not had a reasonable amount of time to hire defense counsel.
I have worked diligently to find counsel and have taken the following steps to do so The Pennsylvania Code, Section In addition, I have not even had a chance to speak with my client regarding the matter.
Summarize any other continuances you have asked for in the past. The last portion of your continuance request should detail any other continuances you have asked for in this particular case. Therefore, this section of your request might be short. For example, if you have never asked for a continuance before in this particular case, your request might read: "I have never before asked for a continuance in the case of Alabama v.
Part 2. Make copies of your request. Once your request has been drafted, you need to make multiple copies of the request before you file it. One copy will be for your records, another copy will be served on the prosecution, and other copies may need to be filed with the court along with the original.
Notify the other party. Before you file your continuance request, you need to notify the prosecution of your intentions. You will notify the prosecution by serving them with a copy of your request. To serve the prosecution, you or your lawyer will need to hire someone over the age of 18 who is not related to the case. He or she, called the server, will hand a copy of your request, or a mail a copy, to the prosecutor. Once the prosecution has been served, the server will need to complete a proof of service form.
This proof of service form requires the server to swear, under oath, that service was completed properly. Once completed, the server will return the proof of service form to you or your lawyer.
File your paperwork. Once you have your continuance request and proof of service form in hand, you need to file those documents with the court. To file your paperwork, you or your lawyer will go to the courthouse and hand the paperwork to the clerk of courts. The clerk will need the original copies of both the request and proof of service form as well as copies of each, if requested.
If you cannot afford the fee, you may be able to get it waived. Part 3. Do as much research on continuances as possible. If this is the case, you may have to make your request at the arraignment itself. If you have counsel, he or she will make the oral request for you.
However, if you do not have counsel, you will need to make the request yourself. Before you make your own oral request, try to learn as much about continuances as possible. If you are in jail, this might not be possible. In this instance, it should be enough to know that you can ask for more time if you are not ready. If you are out of jail awaiting your arraignment, get on a computer and try to learn about how to make an oral continuance request. Look at videos of court hearings, use search engines to learn about the law, and visit your local law library.
Attend your arraignment. If you are making an oral continuance request, you need to show up for your scheduled arraignment. Therefore, most oral requests made will be due to a lack of counsel or a lack of preparedness and not for some scheduling problem. If you are in jail, you will automatically be transported to the courthouse on the morning of your arraignment.
However, if you are out of jail on the day of your arraignment, be sure to arrive to the courthouse early so you have time to get through security. Once you arrive at the courthouse and get through security, find your courtroom and sit quietly until your case is called.
Once your case is called, move to the front of the courtroom and sit down at the proper table. Stand up and identify yourself. When the judge begins your arraignment, ask nicely if you can request a continuance. Do not proceed with the arraignment before making this request. If any information contained in the crime reports is not accurate, this can be your basis to request a judge to dismiss your case during an arraignment hearing. Present all the information that you have gathered to your lawyer, and discuss the best way to proceed.
The lawyer can file a motion to dismiss on the basis that the prosecution has based its case on false information. Wait for the arraignment day and when the court reads your charges, your lawyer can present the information you gathered regarding your case. If the information you have is convincing, a judge can rule that the prosecution does not have adequate evidence to bring up charges against you and the case will be dismissed. In some instances, the judge may issue an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal.
This means that your case can be dismissed within six months from the arraignment day if you avoid arrest during this period. If a defendant gets arrested, the case will be brought up again. John Derrick has been writing since January 09,
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