Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

Re: Time Frames

The Court has 270 days from the date of arrest to take the case to trial, assuming that the case was pending the entire time. If you are scheduled for arraignment that means that you have already been indicted. If you have already been indicted, there will not be a prelimiary hearing. There may be a pre-trial hearing, depending upon the Court, but a prelimiary hearing takes place before arraignment.

The Court could dismiss the case at arraignment, but only if the indictment is defective or the prosecutor asks that the case be dismissed.

You can ask the prosecutor to provide you discovery under Rule 16 --- but it may not have all of the information that you listed in your question.

You need to talk with your attorney about these questions. A felony five can carry as much as 12 months in prison ---- don't make the mistake of trying to represent yourself. If you can't afford to hire an attorney, ask the Court to appoint one for you.

Re: Time Frames

1. Trial must generally be held within 270 days following arrest for felonies.

2. No. Arraignment is just to enter a plea of guilty/not guilty and to discuss the amount of bail, the judge will not examine the evidence at that time.

3. 15 days, unless you have already been indicted by the grand jury.

4. The court will not order discovery at the arraingment. However, you can mail a discovery request to the Prosecutor immediately after. Also you can go to the Police Department, they will usually release copies of some reports as public records. The public records can get you started until you get a formal discovery response.

This response is for general informational purposes only and is in response to what details you provided. This response in no way constitutes an attorney-client relationship. All information provided herein contains the general rules, details of your specific case may cause variance from the general rules. As always you should hire formal legal counsel, or if you qualify ask the court to appoint counsel, so that a detailed examination of the specifics of your case can be undertaken.

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