Court Dates Attendance Tips & Requirements
You might be wondering whether you have to be present for a Court hearing. When someone has a pending case, whether it’s out of a Superior Court, Justice Court or any other Court, a common question that comes to mind is, do I have to appear for Court? The answer depends on the type of case you have and what court the case is held.
Felony Cases
If you have been charged with a felony offense it is a requirement to be physically present along with your attorney.
Whether you hire a private attorney or are assigned a public defender you must be present at every court hearing.
The Judge will require the Defendant to be present and if you are not present the Court will issue a warrant for your arrest.
If you have been charged with a felony and it’s out of County there is the possibility that you may be able to appear over the phone.
Some of the circumstances do depend if you are able to appear by phone or not, if you are out of State the likely hood of that being able to happen are pretty high.
In some cases, both the attorney and the client can call in to Court, with Court approval.
Misdemeanor Cases
As far as Misdemeanor cases goes, if you have hired private counsel, the attorney is able to attend most of the hearings without you having to be present.
Meaning, that you will not have to be present at the court. Although, for some instances such as, the attorney being able to come to a pretrial solution with the State where they are able to have a favorable outcome in your case, you may be required to be present for that one time in order to have your case be closed out.
If your case is being taking to trial, then yes – you will also be required to be present. The pretrial stage of a case will be able to be handled by private Counsel for the most part, except for that one time if attorney is able to close out your case before.
If you have not hired counsel, then you will be required to attend the court hearing that has been scheduled.
If you do not show up to the scheduled hearing the Court will issue a warrant, and, in some cases, there could be a license suspension.
If a public defender is assigned to your misdemeanor case, then you will not have to appear at Court and it will be the same procedure as if you had a private attorney.
What if my case is being set for trial?
If your case has been set for trial, you do have to be present.
What if I live out of State?
If you live out of State, we are able to handle most of the case without the presence of the client, if it is absolutely necessary for you to be present, we may be able to file a motion for you to appear telephonically.
Civil Cases
Civil cases will work the same way that misdemeanor cases do – if you have hired an attorney for some instances the attorney is able to attend the court hearing for you, but you may be required to be present at the Civil Traffic Hearing depending on the circumstances. If you have not hired an attorney, then you do have to be present.
