If you or someone you love is facing criminal charges in Delaware, the court process can feel confusing, because a single case can touch three different courts before it is resolved. 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 Delaware criminal court process one stage at a time, in plain language. None of this is legal advice, and every case is different, so treat it as a map and lean on a lawyer for the turns.
Start with how Delaware organizes its courts, because a felony moves through more than one. The Justice of the Peace Court handles the very first steps, including the initial appearance and bail for most arrests. The Court of Common Pleas handles misdemeanors and holds the preliminary hearings in felony cases. The Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction, where felonies are tried. At the very top sits the Delaware Supreme Court. One thing that surprises people: Delaware has no intermediate appellate court, so appeals from the Superior Court go straight to the Supreme Court. Knowing which court your person is standing in tells you a lot about where the case 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. In Delaware the case is brought by the State, prosecuted by the Attorney General's office. The accused is the defendant, and the defense attorney represents them. For felonies headed to Superior Court, prosecutors use a screening process sometimes called intake, where police and a prosecutor review the facts and evidence and decide whether to file charges, add or reduce them, or send the case to a lower court. That screening is not open to the public, but it is where the real charging decision often gets made.
Step two: the initial appearance and bail
After arrest, the defendant has an initial appearance, usually in the Justice of the Peace Court, generally within 24 hours of arrest unless it falls on a weekend. The purpose is to inform the defendant of the charges and to set bail. Delaware recognizes a right to reasonable bail for most offenses, and the court weighs flight risk, danger to the community, and the nature of the offense. The defendant stays in custody until bail is posted, and if it is set too high for the family to manage, the defense can later ask for a bail review hearing to try to get it reduced, which can be held while the case is still in the lower courts. This is not the trial, and it is not the arraignment. It is the first checkpoint, and it often happens while the family is still trying to find out where their person is being held.
Step three: preliminary hearing or grand jury
For felony charges, Delaware tests the evidence by one of two routes. The first is a preliminary hearing, held in the Court of Common Pleas, where a judge decides whether there is probable cause to continue the prosecution. Usually the only witness is the investigating police officer, and the defense can choose to waive this hearing, in which case the charges move on toward Superior Court without it.
The second route is the grand jury. A Delaware grand jury is made up of 15 citizens who review the evidence the Attorney General's office presents, in a closed proceeding, and return either a true bill, meaning an indictment, or a no bill, meaning the charge does not proceed. The grand jury decides only whether there is enough evidence to go forward, not guilt, so an indictment is not a conviction. If a defendant waives indictment, the prosecutor can instead charge by a document called an information, which is common in Kent and Sussex Counties. Delaware's Constitution preserves the grand jury right for the most serious, capital-level offenses.
Step four: arraignment in Superior Court
Once a felony charge is formalized by indictment or information, the case moves to the Superior Court for arraignment. There the defendant is formally told the charges and enters a plea: guilty, not guilty, or no contest. The court issues a scheduling order setting the next dates. Most defendants plead not guilty at this stage, which is the normal, expected move that preserves every right and forces the State to prove its case. A guilty or no contest plea instead moves the case toward sentencing.
Step five: pretrial, discovery, and motions
After arraignment the case enters the pretrial phase, which is where the majority of Delaware 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, or a motion to dismiss, and a granted suppression motion can knock out the core of the State's case. The court holds case reviews and a pretrial conference to manage the case and explore whether it can be resolved without a trial. This stretch can run for months, and although it looks quiet from the outside, it is usually where the real work happens.
Step six: plea bargaining
The honest reality is that the large majority of Delaware 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, often to a reduced charge or for an agreed sentence recommendation, 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 a felony defendant has the right to a jury, or can choose a bench trial decided by a judge. Trial moves through jury selection, where the judge and lawyers question potential jurors for bias, then opening statements, the State's case, the defense case, closing arguments, and the verdict. A criminal jury verdict in Delaware must be unanimous. Throughout, the burden stays on the State 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 sentencing, and Delaware adds a step many states do not emphasize. Before sentencing in a serious case, the Department of Correction typically prepares a presentence investigation report, a detailed look at the defendant's background, history, and circumstances that the judge uses in deciding the sentence. Delaware judges also work from sentencing guidelines developed by the state's Sentencing Accountability Commission, known as SENTAC, which recommend sentences within the limits the law sets for the offense. The judge weighs the offense, the record, the presentence report, anything the defense presents in mitigation, and any statement from a victim. Sentencing can include prison, probation, fines, and restitution. The defense lawyer's work telling the human story behind the charge matters a great deal here.
Step nine: appeals
A conviction is not always the end of the road, and Delaware's appeal path is unusually direct. Most states have an intermediate appellate court that sits between the trial court and the state supreme court, so an appeal stops there first. Delaware does not. Because Delaware has no intermediate appellate court, a felony conviction in the Superior Court is appealed straight to the Delaware Supreme Court, the only appellate court in the state, where appeals from final judgments are heard as of right. That means a Delaware criminal appeal reaches the highest court in the state in a single step, which is unusual and worth understanding. The Supreme Court reviews the written record for legal errors that affected the outcome rather than retrying the facts. Cases that started lower, such as a Court of Common Pleas matter, move up through the Superior Court first before any further review. An appeal is not a new trial and not a chance to argue the facts again to a new jury. 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 Delaware
Everything above describes the Delaware 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.
The entire state forms a single federal trial district, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, one of the original courts created in 1789, which sits in Wilmington. Delaware is famous as the state of incorporation for a huge share of American companies, so its federal court carries an outsized business and patent docket, but it handles federal criminal cases as well. A federal case in Delaware is prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware, not by the state Attorney General, and it is heard by federal judges in Wilmington.
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 Delaware's bail rules. Felony charges come by indictment from a federal grand jury, the standard route in federal court. 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 Delaware's SENTAC guidelines, 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 Delaware ends in conviction and is appealed, it does not go to the Delaware Supreme Court at all. It goes to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, based in Philadelphia, which also covers New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 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 Delaware should make sure their lawyer has real federal court experience.
Where this leaves you
The Delaware court process is long, and watching a case move from the Justice of the Peace Court through the Court of Common Pleas and up to the Superior Court can be the most confusing part for families. But each stage has a purpose, and knowing the sequence, initial appearance, preliminary hearing or grand jury, 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.