Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Time Served

The Talh form (the document submitted to the court to show the criminal defendant plead guilty) is filled out by the D. A. which the criminal defendant then signs and then the D. A. signs, shows credit for time served but doesn't have the number of days. Then the judge routinely asks the criminal defendant at the sentencing how much time he previously served. That is then put into the minutes by the court clerk. She/he puts it into the order going to the sheriff ordering the incarceration.

If the number of days credit is in error the attorney for the criminal defendant can go back to the court clerk (have the file sent in first) and go over the minute order and other court documents in the criminal defendant's case file to detemine the number of days previously served. The attorney may have to speak to the judge after the court clerk reviews the file. Although most of the work checking the file is done by the court clerk. And I've seen the court clerks correct a small error by the judge.