What Happens If You Get Served With An Indictment

Q: So, what happens if you get served with an indictment? Literally, what happens to you, when that comes out?

A:I can answer that. The procedure is basically as follows. I'm speaking to felony cases, because this is where the indictments and direct complaints come into play. Most misdemeanors, often times, are called sight and release. When they're served, and person is given a misdemeanor charge sent to them in the mail, and they're told to appear in court, or they sign when a police officer charges them on the spot to appear in court, if the police office charges them on the spot, at a certain time and place. With the direct complaints and grand jury indictments, there has to be a formal appearance before a superior court judge or commissioner who will make sure the person acknowledges and understands that they're being charged with a crime. I normally wait for the reading of the charge, but they can have the reading done out loud in court. They have to be apprised of what the classification of the charge is. Within a sentence or two, or possibly three, a recitation of the summary of what the charge is, and why the person is being charged. Under those circumstances, first the court will take the person's plea, which is almost universally not guilty at that time. Because the defense simply has insufficient information to make an assessment of what should be the next course of action for the case. The next thing is that they need to make sure the person understands that they have certain constitutional rights. The third thing, and probably the most important to the individual, is what kind of release conditions are being set for that individual. That is, obviously, of great import. They can be released on their own recognizance, to a third part, to pre-trial services, or after posting bonds, whether it be secured or in cash. And that's a large part of what the recitation at these arraignments is for. It's basically, if forgone conclusion that anybody there is going to plead not guilty. In fact, most judges won't even accept a guilty plea at that stage, anyway, because they order them to confer with council within 30 days so they can obtain information on the case. Secondarily, they have to make a determination as to what specific conditions they need to impose for the release of this person, or if they should be incarcerated. In some cases, in this state, it's simply a matter of being automatically incarcerated without bond and opportunity to have those conditions modified, subject to a showing that the evidence is so weak that the person is deserving of release conditions.

Q: Say more about that. How often does that happen?

A:Most cases that involve sex crimes, whether it be sexual assault, child molestation, or anything in the sex crimes code, just about anything that is contained therein, currently, the state is entitled to hold you without bond or bail. They don't ordinarily grant any sort of release conditions. They don't have to give you a bond. But I think it's important that people understand that when release conditions are set, that doesn't mean the person who has the $100,000 bond as opposed to the person who has the $10,000 bond is more guilty. Bonds and release conditions are set only for the purposes of ensuring that the person shows up for their court appearances. However, in the case of sex crimes, and other cases obviously, or some murder cases, or any that are very serious cases, the simple truth is that the court will set a bond that's beyond the means of the individual. They do receive financial reports on the individual. So, if you have a person who's on Social Security, and doesn't have any family members that they can rely on, and the judge sets a $100,000 cash bond, obviously, that person is not going anywhere. They don't have that kind of money. They can't put $100,000 together to release themselves, and probably have never had that in their lives. So, it's holding them without bond, basically. In my opinion.

Q: How long can people be held in these situations?

A:The first thing you have to do is recognize that you're working within the parameters of the system. So, if I determine that the release conditions are inappropriate for the individual, I file what's called a motion to modify the release conditions. The state has ten business days to respond, and then you have a hearing. Again, I'm predominantly speaking of felony cases at the state court level. That's where you have most of your kicking and fighting. For most misdemeanors, obviously the bonds are nominal. They rarely go over $1500 to $2500 in cash, and often the person is simply released on their own recognizance. But, it is different when you get into superior court and felony cases. I file motions to modify their release conditions. A lot of the time, they can get conditions or terms granted or modified. In fact, during the course of a case, which can often last anywhere from 6 to 18 months, as evidence develops or the person has shown, for example, which pre-trial services, what can do is they can put them on ankle bracelet monitoring. That means the individual will have a bracelet and can be monitored, and they have a curfew. What I've found that if the person is complying and not having any problems in that regard, or if they're given release conditions which require them to take regular drug tests or anything to that affect. Basically what I do is I look at the pre-trial services report. If this person is compliant for 6 months or a year, again, depending on how serious the trial is, the judge will often modify those conditions, because they're satisfied that the person A, is not on drugs, B, will appear in court, and C, is responsible enough to know to be in court and will not flee from the jurisdiction.

Q: When somebody is given an indictment, on the day they go into court, they may not be coming home. So it's probably especially important to make sure they have representation, so they have some sense of what's going to happen.

A:Absolutely. It's not uncommon, and a lot of times what I do is I'm often dealing with third parties, which are not the defendants themselves, but loved ones. Whether it be husbands, wives, children, parents, extended family members, or fiancees, these are the people that will contact me when somebody is charged with one of these cases. Often, they've already been taken into custody or have been charged.  Some of them will meet with their public defenders, be extremely dissatisfied with what they deem a lack of interest in their case, and will then ask a loved one to start looking around. Others immediately want private council. Again, it depends on the circumstances. What I do find is that most of the people I deal with are not the defendants themselves. They're usually in custody and don't have the means to go to banks, or contact family members to come in and speak on their behalf to establish that they have contacts in the community, or employers, etc. Those are the people who usually contact me, and essentially from there, I start gathering information to try to get them released as quickly as possible.