Arraignment, for all intents and purposes, is your first appearance in front of the court. It is an opportunity for you to learn a little bit about them and for them to learn a little bit about you. In all seriousness it is a purely procedural exercise 99% of the time and takes five minutes once you actually get in front of the judge.
First, the courts responsibilities to you. When you get to your Seattle DUI arraignment, most of the time you will be given a sheet that explains your constitutional rights. These include the right to an attorney, the right to a jury trial, the right to plead not guilty or guilty, and the right to have your trial commenced within 90 days of your arraignment if you are out of custody and 60 days if you are in custody.
They ask you to read through the sheet and sign it. All that does is let the court know that you have been made aware of your rights and understand them. If you don't understand them ask the judge. Most of the time they will be more than happy to help you answer a question you might have.
Second, the court has to let you know, formally, what you have been charged with. Usually the prosecutor will give you a sheet of paper that says "complaint" on it that outlines the charges against you. If it were a Seattle DUI, for example, it would give the date and place, and describe the elements of DUI. You won't be asked to answer the charges at your arraignment. Just take the sheet. After that the judge will read the charges out loud - this is a requirement. If you have a Seattle DUI attorney with you this requirement will probably be waived - it is purely procedural.
After the court has done these two things, they will ask you if your name is your name and what your current address is. Then the court will ask you how you wish to plead to the charges. In all but a very few instances your answer should be not guilty. Once you plead not guilty the judge will set a pretrial hearing date and tell you your conditions of release.
Conditions of release are that 1% chance you have of running into some trouble at arraignment. If you have a DUI, for example, the court may impose more stringent conditions if you have a high blood test or previous DUI convictions. If you are charged with domestic violence, the court may place a high bail on you and require you to have no contact with the victim. This is the time you need a good Seattle criminal defense attorney on your side to argue.
In Seattle, and in the rest of the State of Washington, conditions of release can be set for two purposes only: (1) to get you to come back to court; and (2) to keep the public safe. If the conditions don't promote those two goals, they shouldn't be required. Your DUI attorney can help you sort through this if stringent conditions of release are required of you.
Like I said, in the end, arraignment is more a procedural thing than anything else. You'll wait in the courtroom for 30 minutes to an hour to get called up and then it will take 5 minutes. If you have the chance to hire a lawyer before that you should do so. We can come in handy from time to time.
Related Posts:
Seattle DUI Attorney | Corpus Delicti
Seattle DUI Attorney | Can't Talk Your Way Out
