Art. 531 Motion to quash; nature of motion

If you want to raise a legal challenge before your criminal trial starts, you usually have to do it through something called a "motion to quash." This is the standard way to bring up most pretrial arguments or defenses in your case.

There are only two exceptions to this rule. First, if you're arguing that you're mentally incapable of standing trial, you don't use a motion to quash for that. Second, if you're simply entering a plea of "not guilty" or "not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity," those also don't require a motion to quash.

For everyone else, if you have any other pretrial issue you want the court to consider (like problems with how the charges were filed, issues with the indictment, or other legal defects in the case) you need to file a motion to quash to raise it properly. This keeps the process organized so the court and both sides know how these challenges will be presented before the trial begins.