If you or someone you love is facing criminal charges in California, the court process can feel enormous and slow, full of hearings with names that run together. I have been through the system myself, and most of the fear comes from not knowing what each step is for. So let me walk you through the California criminal court process one stage at a time, in plain language. None of this is legal advice, and every case and county is different, so treat it as a map and lean on a lawyer for the turns.
Start with how California organizes its courts, because it is simpler than people expect. California has a single trial court in each county, called the Superior Court, and there are 58 of them, one per county. The Superior Court handles everything, both misdemeanors and felonies, though felonies move through extra steps before trial. Above the trial courts are the California Courts of Appeal, organized into six geographic districts, and at the very top sits the California Supreme Court. Knowing the case is in Superior Court and which stage it has reached tells you where your person is in the journey.
Step one: arrest, booking, and the charging decision
It begins with arrest and booking, where the charges are recorded, fingerprints and a photo are taken, and the jail runs its checks. The People of the State of California, represented by the prosecutor, usually the district attorney, bring the case. The accused is the defendant, and the defense attorney represents them. If the defendant is held in custody, California has a 48-hour rule: the prosecutor generally must file charges and bring the defendant before a judge within 48 hours, not counting weekends and holidays.
Step two: the arraignment
The arraignment is the first formal court appearance. The judge tells the defendant the charges that have been filed, advises them of their constitutional rights, and the defendant enters a plea. If the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, the court appoints one, often a public defender, right here. The judge also addresses bail or release. Most defendants plead not guilty at this stage, which is the normal, expected move that preserves every right and forces the prosecution to prove its case. A guilty or no contest plea would send the case straight toward sentencing instead, so the not guilty plea is what keeps the defense alive.
Step three: the preliminary hearing and being held to answer
For a felony, the next major stage is the preliminary hearing, and this is one of the most important steps in the whole California process. You have the right to a preliminary hearing within 10 court days of the arraignment, though defendants often waive that timeline, called waiving time, to give the defense room to prepare. At the preliminary hearing a judge, not a jury, hears the prosecution's evidence and decides whether there is probable cause to believe a crime was committed and that the defendant committed it. The standard is far lower than at trial, and the rules of evidence are more relaxed.
If the judge finds probable cause, the defendant is held to answer, which simply means the case has enough behind it to move forward to trial. If a charge is a wobbler, an offense that can be either a felony or a misdemeanor, the judge can reduce it to a misdemeanor at this stage. If the judge finds no probable cause on a charge, that charge is dismissed, though the prosecution can sometimes refile, because double jeopardy protection does not attach at a preliminary hearing the way it does at trial.
Step four: the information and the second arraignment
Once the defendant is held to answer, the prosecutor files a document called the Information, the formal charging document that lays out the felony charges going forward. By law that filing happens within 15 days of being held to answer. The defendant is then arraigned a second time, this time on the Information, and again enters a plea. This second arraignment confuses families because it looks like a repeat of the first one, but it is a distinct step that formally moves the case into its trial phase. Most felony cases in California reach trial by this complaint, preliminary hearing, and Information route. A grand jury indictment is available to prosecutors as an alternative but is far less common in California than the preliminary hearing path.
Step five: pretrial, discovery, and motions
After the second arraignment the case enters the pretrial phase, which is where the majority of California cases are actually resolved. Both sides exchange evidence through discovery. The defense can file pretrial motions, for example a motion to suppress evidence gathered through an unlawful search, a motion that, if granted, can gut the prosecution's case or end it. Courts hold readiness or disposition conferences to push the case toward resolution or trial. This stretch can last weeks or months, and although it looks quiet from the outside, it is usually where the real fight happens.
Step six: plea bargaining
The honest reality is that the large majority of California cases are resolved by plea rather than trial. During the pretrial period the prosecutor and the defense discuss whether a plea agreement makes sense, where the defendant pleads guilty or no contest, often to a reduced charge or for an agreed sentence, in exchange for a more predictable outcome than a trial. Whether to accept a plea is entirely the defendant's decision, not the lawyer's and not the family's. A good lawyer lays out the real risks and the real options so the defendant can choose with clear eyes. There is no shame in choosing to fight or in choosing a resolution that protects your future, as long as the choice is informed.
Step seven: trial
If the case does not resolve, it goes to trial in Superior Court, where the defendant has the right to a jury. California protects a speedy trial: in a felony case the trial must generally begin within 60 days of the arraignment on the Information, unless the defendant waives that time. Trial moves through jury selection, where the judge and lawyers question potential jurors for bias, then opening statements, the prosecution's case, the defense case, closing arguments, and the verdict. A criminal jury verdict must be unanimous. Throughout, the burden stays on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant does not have to prove innocence and does not have to testify.
Step eight: sentencing
If there is a guilty verdict or plea, the case moves to a sentencing hearing, and California's sentencing scheme has two features worth understanding. First, for many felonies the law sets a sentencing triad, three specific terms for the offense, a lower, a middle, and an upper term. Since a 2022 change in the law, the middle term is the presumptive sentence, meaning the judge starts there and can go higher or lower only under specified circumstances. Second, because of a major 2011 reform known as realignment, many non-violent, non-serious, and non-sexual felonies are now served in county jail rather than state prison, and courts can impose a split sentence, part in custody and part under community supervision. The idea was to ease prison overcrowding and keep lower-level offenders closer to their families and community programs. More serious and violent felonies and certain sex offenses still carry state prison. The judge also can grant probation in many cases. Sentencing is its own distinct stage, and the defense lawyer's work presenting mitigation, the human context behind the charge, matters a great deal to the outcome.
Step nine: appeals
A conviction is not always the end of the road. A felony conviction in Superior Court can be appealed to the California Court of Appeal for the district that covers the county, where a panel reviews the written record for legal errors that affected the outcome. An appeal is not a new trial and not a chance to re-argue the facts to a new jury. From the Court of Appeal, a case may go on to the California Supreme Court, which chooses most of the cases it hears. There is one stark exception: when a death sentence is imposed, the appeal goes automatically and directly to the California Supreme Court, skipping the Court of Appeal entirely. Appellate deadlines are strict and start running quickly after sentencing, so anyone considering an appeal needs to tell their lawyer right away.
A cursory look at the federal court process in California
Everything above describes the California state court system, which handles the overwhelming majority of criminal cases. Some cases, though, are charged as federal crimes and move through an entirely separate system worth understanding in outline.
California is so large that it is split into four federal trial districts: the Northern District, based in San Francisco; the Eastern District, based in Sacramento; the Central District, based in Los Angeles, which is one of the busiest federal districts in the country; and the Southern District, based in San Diego. A federal case in California is prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the district where the case sits, not by a county district attorney, and it is heard by federal judges in those courthouses.
The federal sequence covers the same broad ground you read about above but with its own rules and players. After a federal arrest, the defendant has an initial appearance before a United States magistrate judge, with detention or release decided under the federal Bail Reform Act rather than California's release rules. Felony charges are brought by indictment from a federal grand jury, which is the standard route in federal court, a contrast with California's reliance on the preliminary hearing. The case proceeds through arraignment, discovery and motions, and either a plea or a trial in United States District Court. The sharpest difference comes at the end: instead of California's triad and realignment to county jail, federal sentences are calculated under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, often carry mandatory minimums, are served in federal prison, and there is no parole in the federal system, which makes federal exposure very different from a comparable state charge.
If a federal case in California ends in conviction and is appealed, it does not touch the California Courts of Appeal or the California Supreme Court. It goes to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, the largest of the federal appeals courts, and from there the only further step is the United States Supreme Court. Because federal practice is its own world, anyone facing a federal charge in California should make sure their lawyer has real federal court experience.
Where this leaves you
The California court process is long, and the stretch of waiting between hearings is often the hardest part for families. But each stage has a purpose, and knowing the sequence, arraignment, preliminary hearing, the Information and second arraignment, pretrial, plea or trial, sentencing, and appeal, lets you see where your person is instead of feeling lost in it. Get a lawyer involved as early as you can, keep one page with the charges, the court, the next date, and your attorney's contact information, and stay close to your loved one through it. The system is built to make people feel alone. Knowing the map is how you push back against that.
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