Rule 34 Arresting Judgment

This rule lets a court cancel, or "arrest," a guilty verdict or guilty plea if something was legally wrong with the case from the start. There are only two reasons a judge can do this. First, the paperwork that charged the person (called the information) didn't actually describe a real crime. Second, the court never had the legal authority to handle that type of case in the first place.

If either of these problems exists, the judge must throw out the judgment, even after a guilty verdict or guilty plea. The defendant can ask the judge to do this, or the judge can raise the issue without anyone asking.

There's a strict deadline for this request. The defendant has only 30 days to file this motion after the court accepts a guilty verdict, a finding of guilt, or a guilty or no contest plea. If the defendant misses this window, they lose the chance to raise these problems this way.