{"id":94689,"date":"2025-02-18T01:25:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/an-overview-of-what-happens-at-an-arraignment-in-massachusetts-boston-criminal-lawyer-blog-september-27-2023\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T01:25:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:25:50","slug":"an-overview-of-what-happens-at-an-arraignment-in-massachusetts-boston-criminal-lawyer-blog-september-27-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=94689","title":{"rendered":"An overview of what happens at an arraignment in Massachusetts \u2014 Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog \u2014 September 27, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>What is an arraignment?\u00a0 An arraignment is usually how a criminal case commences against you.\u00a0 There are exceptions to this general rule, which I shall talk about later.\u00a0 At an arraignment, typically a plea of NOT GUILTY is entered against you and a Pre-Trial Conference date set.\u00a0 Arraignments can be as uneventful as that or incredibly impactful and quite eventful.<\/p>\n<p>The more eventful and impactful arraignments involve setting bail and even potentially holding you in jail during some of the pendency of the case.\u00a0 It could also involve you being ordered away from a person or place or ordered not to operate a motor vehicle or to wear a GPS ankle bracelet.<\/p>\n<p>An important aspect of being arraigned is that, in some sense of the word, you now will have an entry on your Board of Probation record or CORI.\u00a0 In other words, you will now have a criminal record.\u00a0 In substance and in the law, you really do <strong>not<\/strong> have a criminal record, per se, as you have not been adjudicated as guilty, but if one were to search your record, there would be an entry.\u00a0 It is critical to try to avoid this if it is at all possible. \u00a0Having a case resolved\/dismissed prior to arraignment is crucial and always worth attempting using a variety of avenues to accomplish as such.<\/p>\n<p>Some examples of being able to have a case resolved prior to an arraignment are as follows: If the circumstances dictate as such, request that the Commonwealth (District Attorney) dismiss the case PRIOR to arraignment. This will avoid any entry on your criminal record.\u00a0 There can be legal or factual reasons for a District Attorney to be willing to dismiss the case prior to arraignment.\u00a0 Another way to avoid the arraignment is to ask for the case to be remanded to a Clerk Magistrate Hearing.\u00a0 For some cases, usually motor vehicle offenses or some misdemeanors, you are essentially entitled to a Clerk Magistrate Hearing.\u00a0 The Judge and\/or District Attorney may allow you to have your case dismissed, arraignment negated, and instead a clerk magistrate conducted. \u00a0Finally, you can request that the arraignment be postponed to give you an opportunity to provide a well prepared plea and argument to the District Attorney that, in the interests of justice or fairness, you should never be arraigned for the particular charges, and the case dismissed prior to arraignment.<\/p>\n<p>In cases involving Assault and Battery or physical violence, there are certain ways to prepare for the arraignment that may be very important.\u00a0 Firstly, if you are aware that the alleged victim does not want the case to proceed, it may be helpful for the alleged victim to appear at the arraignment to express that they do not want the case to proceed and\/or that they do not wish for a stay away\/no contact order be in place.\u00a0 This can be particularly important where the alleged victim and the defendant are married and\/or live together.\u00a0 Without this input from the alleged victim, the defendant may be ordered away from the family house and\/or ordered away from the alleged victim or even his\/her children.\u00a0 Secondly, you want to come equipped to the court for the arraignment about information about yourself.\u00a0 Whether it be about your work, family, medical information or otherwise, to help make sure the Judge doesn\u2019t make requirements of release that could impact your ability to work, drive, be with your family, live in your house or otherwise impact your day-to-day life.\u00a0 Accordingly, if possible, it is advisable to consult a Massachusetts attorney prior to arraignment to ensure that you are prepared for any eventualities that may arise at the arraignment.<\/p>\n<p>While hiring a criminal defense attorney prior to arraignment is not mandatory, it can prove to be very helpful and even possibly life and case changing.\u00a0 There are also certain things that can be prepared and organized prior to arraignment that can prove to be extremely important in the initial stages of the case and even the ultimate outcome. If you have an arraignment coming up and have questions, please reach out to us.\u00a0 We have been representing individuals in Massachusetts for over 50 years and have handled cases in every Massachusetts court. Our attorneys are available around the clock.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is an arraignment?\u00a0 An arraignment is usually how a criminal case commences against you.\u00a0 There are exceptions to this general rule, which I shall talk about later.\u00a0 At an arraignment, typically a plea of NOT GUILTY is entered against you and a Pre-Trial Conference date set.\u00a0 Arraignments can be as uneventful as that or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[45009,3767,19855,14207,13466,7523,11275,4968],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-94689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-arraignment","tag-blog","tag-boston","tag-criminal","tag-lawyer","tag-massachusetts","tag-overview","tag-september"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - 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