Rule 27.1 Calendar

When someone is charged with a crime in magistrate court, a judge decides when the arraignment will happen. An arraignment is a court hearing where a defendant is formally told what charges they face and asked how they plead.

Once the date is set, the court sends notice to everyone who needs to know, including the defendant, their lawyer, and any bondsman involved in the case. Sometimes an arraignment is skipped entirely, either because the defendant agrees to waive it or because the law allows it to be skipped automatically in certain situations.