Statue of Limitations in California, for an arraignment?
If a person is in jail and cannot make bail, is there a Statue of Limitations, that requires the courts to have a person arraingned in certain amount of time, or they must be released?
Answers:
First, under two US Supreme Court cases (Gerstein v. Pugh and County of Riverside v. McLaughlin), if a person is arrested without a warrant, there must be a judicial determination of probable cause for the arrest within 48 hours, including weekends or holidays. However, California does not interpret this as requiring a court appearance.
Penal Code sections 825 and 849 mandate that a person arrested be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay, and in no event more than 48 hours. However, this does exclude weekends and holidays. Moreover, if the 48 hours expires when court is not in session, the prisoner can be arraigned at any time the next day court is in session. This effectively permits a delay of almost 72 hours, excluding weekends or holidays.
The "unnecessary delay" rule is commonly ignored. Necessary delay is only that which is necessary to book the arrestee, to prepare and present the paperwork to a prosecutor, for the prosecutor to file a charge, and to bring the prisoner before a magistrate. Police agencies in California operate as if they are entitled to delay arraignments without necessity so long as the time limits are not exceeded, and have not been called on that for decades.
The remedy for a delayed arraignment (other than civil suits) is release. Even if the defendant is not released, a delayed arraignment does not prevent prosecution unless the delay has caused prejudice.
dont know for sure but it mught have to do with what they person was charged with im sure there is a set time if bail not made i know court date can be put off longer when bail is made so i would assume if bail not made court must be sooner
9-ll changed all that.what used to be 72hrs can now be 3wks or longer. now everybodies equal to those prisoners in cuba....
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