§ 135.520 Time of making motion; hearing

If you want to ask a judge to throw out the charges against you, you need to do it quickly. You must file this request, called a motion to set aside or dismiss, at your arraignment or within 10 days after it. Arraignment is the court hearing where you're formally told what you're charged with.

The judge can give you more time if you have a good reason, but you have to ask. If you miss this window and don't have a good excuse, you lose your chance to challenge the charging document later in the case. This means you can't bring up certain problems with how the charges were written or filed after this deadline passes.

This rule exists to keep cases moving forward without long delays. It pushes people to raise these kinds of objections early, so the court and both sides know where things stand before the case goes further. If you think there's a problem with the charges against you, talk to a lawyer right away so you don't miss this deadline.