There's a long answer and a short answer to that question. The short answer is that if you have an experienced criminal defense attorney before your first court date, which is called plea day or arraignment, you will not have to be present. This applies to both misdemeanor and felony cases. Where it gets more complicated is the court dates that follow the first one.
Misdemeanor Case Court Appearances
For misdemeanor cases, you'll have what's called a pre-trial conference. As long as you sign a form called a waiver of appearance that authorizes us to go to court for you, you will not have to appear at the pre-trial conference. The next court date after the pre-trial is called jury trial review.
At the jury trial review, your case will either be dismissed, set for trial, or a plea agreement will be entered. If you're a local client, I suggest that if at all possible, you attend the jury trial review with me. Good things often happen at this court appearance because the state frequently offers reduced charges since they don't want to go to trial. It's in your best interest to attend this court date if possible, but if you can't be there or live out of state, we can certainly appear for you.
Felony Case Court Appearances
On felony cases, the process is slightly different. After the plea day, you'll have a pre-trial conference. If you have an attorney, you won't need to be present at the pre-trial conference. The next court date after pre-trial is called docket day. The difference in felony cases is that you must be present at docket day regardless of whether you live out of state or locally.
At docket day, your case will either enter into a plea agreement, get set for trial, or get dismissed. I can't stress this enough: you must be present at docket day unless you are specifically excused by the court or your attorney.
If you have a court date coming up, give us a call. We can provide answers and an assessment of where you stand with your case. No matter where you're at in the process, we can always step in and get you the help you need.
