Most people picture a criminal case as a trial with a few appointments attached. It's closer to the opposite: months of paperwork, hearings that last four minutes, and two or three quiet moments where the outcome is actually decided.
The full sequence runs: arrest, booking, probable cause review within 48 hours, initial appearance and bail, formal charging by grand jury or prosecutor's filing, arraignment, discovery, pretrial motions, plea negotiation, trial, and sentencing. A straightforward misdemeanor can finish in two or three months. A contested felony usually takes 9 to 18 months, and complex federal cases routinely run past two years.
Here's what each stage actually does, and which ones matter far more than their length suggests.
Booking, then a probable cause determination.
Under County of Riverside v. McLaughlin (1991), someone arrested without a warrant is entitled to a judicial finding of probable cause within 48 hours, including weekends and holidays. It's often done on paper by a judge who never sees the defendant. Fast, unglamorous, and it's the hinge that decides whether you go home or wait in custody.
The thing that goes wrong in this window is almost always the same: people talk. Not to confess. To explain. They believe a reasonable account will clear things up, and instead they lock in a version of events that gets picked apart for the next year.
If you take one practical thing from this article, take this. The right sentence is some version of "I want a lawyer, and I'm not answering questions." Then stop. Not a partial answer, not "I'll just clarify one thing." Requests for counsel have to be unambiguous to trigger full protection, and "maybe I should talk to a lawyer" has been held not to count.
People use these interchangeably and they aren't the same event.
The initial appearance is the first time you're brought before a judge, usually within a day or two. You're told what you're accused of, advised of your rights, counsel is appointed if you qualify, and release conditions get set.
The arraignment comes after formal charges exist. You're read the charging document and you enter a plea. In almost every case, that plea is not guilty, because pleading guilty at arraignment means giving up your leverage before you've seen a single page of the evidence.
In some state systems these happen at the same hearing. In federal court they're distinct, and the detention hearing under the Bail Reform Act typically happens within three to five days of the initial appearance.
Two roads, and which one you're on depends entirely on the court.
Grand jury indictment. Required for federal felonies under the Fifth Amendment, and used by a number of states. It's a one-sided proceeding: prosecutor presents, no defense attorney, no judge, no cross-examination. The standard is probable cause, not reasonable doubt, and grand juries indict in the overwhelming majority of cases they hear.
Information plus preliminary hearing. The prosecutor files charges directly, and a judge holds a hearing to decide whether there's enough evidence to proceed. Your lawyer is present and can cross-examine witnesses.
If you have a choice, the preliminary hearing is more useful, and not because you'll win it. You usually won't. Its value is that it puts a witness under oath early and creates a transcript you can use to impeach them at trial if their story shifts. I've watched cases turn on nothing but a preliminary hearing transcript from fourteen months earlier.
This is the longest phase and the one where cases are genuinely won and lost.
Discovery means the government turns over its evidence: reports, lab results, body camera footage, witness statements. Under Brady v. Maryland (1963) prosecutors must disclose evidence favorable to the defense, and under Giglio that includes material undermining their own witnesses' credibility.
The Jencks Act is the piece nobody warns defendants about. In federal court, a witness's prior statements generally don't have to be produced until after that witness testifies on direct. Your lawyer may be reading key material during a trial recess. Many prosecutors disclose earlier as a courtesy, but they aren't required to.
Then come the motions. Motion to suppress the search. Motion to suppress the statement. Motion to exclude an identification. Motion to dismiss a count.
A suppression hearing is a small trial with real testimony, real cross-examination, and a real ruling — and if a key piece of evidence gets thrown out, the case often resolves within weeks. For a large share of defendants, the suppression hearing is the trial. It's the only day their lawyer gets to challenge the government's witnesses in front of a judge.
The 70-day figure comes from the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161, which also gives the government 30 days from arrest to indict. Both get extended constantly through excludable delay, which is why the statutory clock and the real calendar diverge so sharply.
Later than people expect, and they're how nearly everything ends.
Roughly 97% of federal convictions come from guilty pleas rather than verdicts, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission data, and state figures land in a similar range. Trials are the exception by a wide margin.
Offers typically firm up after discovery is complete and after the court rules on suppression motions, because both sides now know what the evidence actually looks like. An offer made before those rulings is priced on uncertainty. That cuts both ways: sometimes early offers are the best you'll see, and sometimes they're an attempt to close the file before a weakness surfaces.
There's usually a deadline. Many prosecutors' offices withdraw the favorable offer once trial preparation starts in earnest, and some courts impose a plea cutoff date on the calendar.
The presentence investigation, and it's the most underrated stage in the entire process.
A probation officer investigates, interviews the defendant, calculates a guideline range, and writes a report the judge will read closely. In federal court under Rule 32, the report has to be disclosed at least 35 days before sentencing so both sides can object to it in writing.
That interview is not a formality. The officer's factual findings drive offense level calculations, enhancements, and criminal history scoring, and a judge who has read a 20-page report before you say a word has already formed a view.
My blunt recommendation: treat the probation interview as the single most consequential hour after the plea. Prepare for it the way you'd prepare for cross-examination. Bring your lawyer if the jurisdiction permits it. Correct errors in writing, on the record, with documents attached. Objections raised properly at this stage get ruled on; grievances raised for the first time at the podium tend to get absorbed into a judge's general sense that you're making excuses.
Here's the tradeoff nobody explains well, and it comes up in almost every felony case.
Asserting your speedy trial right forces the case onto a fast calendar. That pressure is real, and against a thin case with reluctant witnesses, it can produce dismissals or better offers. Witnesses move. Memories fade. Prosecutors triage.
The cost is that your own lawyer gets the same compressed schedule. No time for an independent expert, a full investigation, or a properly researched suppression motion. Waiving time is standard practice for a reason.
Where I'd push back on the default: waiving should be an actual decision, revisited every few months, not an automatic checkbox at every status conference. I've seen cases sit for a year of continuances that served nobody, with a defendant on restrictive release conditions the whole time, losing a job while the file gathered dust.
Ask your lawyer directly, at every setting: what specific work is this continuance buying? If there isn't a concrete answer, that's worth a conversation.
For related background, see our guide to statutory rape laws and our legal glossary. If you need help finding counsel, start with our legal aid resources.
General information, not legal advice. Deadlines and procedures vary significantly between federal court and each state's system. Talk to a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction about any specific case.
A straightforward misdemeanor can finish in two to three months. A contested felony usually takes 9 to 18 months, and complex federal cases routinely run past two years.
Under County of Riverside v. McLaughlin (1991), someone arrested without a warrant is entitled to a judicial finding of probable cause within 48 hours, including weekends and holidays.
The initial appearance is the first time you are brought before a judge, usually within a day or two, where charges and rights are explained. The arraignment comes after formal charges exist and is where you enter a plea, typically not guilty.
A grand jury indictment is a one-sided proceeding where only the prosecutor presents evidence to establish probable cause. A preliminary hearing allows your lawyer to be present and cross-examine witnesses before a judge decides whether there is enough evidence to proceed.
Under Brady v. Maryland (1963), prosecutors must disclose evidence favorable to the defense, and under Giglio that includes material undermining their own witnesses' credibility.
In federal court, the Jencks Act means a witness's prior statements generally do not have to be produced until after that witness testifies on direct examination. Your lawyer may be reading key material during a trial recess.
Roughly 97% of federal convictions come from guilty pleas rather than verdicts, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission data, and state figures land in a similar range.
A probation officer investigates, interviews the defendant, calculates a guideline range, and writes a report the judge will read closely. The officer's factual findings drive offense level calculations, enhancements, and criminal history scoring.
Asserting your speedy trial right forces the case onto a fast calendar, which can pressure a weak case but also compresses your own lawyer's preparation time. Waiving is standard practice, but it should be an actual decision revisited every few months, not an automatic checkbox.
A presentence report is typically disclosed 6 to 12 weeks after conviction, and sentencing usually happens roughly 90 days after a federal plea or verdict.
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