FAQ

Q: I’ve just been arrested on state or local charges. What’s going to happen now?

A: It depends on whether you’ve been charged with a felony or a misdemeanor. For most misdemeanors, there is a set bond amount (usually a few hundred dollars) and you can bond out of jail as soon as you are booked (fingerprinted, photographed, etc.) You will then be released from jail with a bond sheet that will contain the time and date of your first court date, the first appearance. If you cannot afford the bond, you will stay in jail until your first appearance, which will occur within 48 hours.

For felonies, the process is a bit more complex. Within the first 48 hours, the prosecutor must decide whether to charge you with a crime and what crime to charge you with. The crime you were arrested for is not necessarily the crime you will be charged with. If the prosecutor does decide to charge you with a crime, he or she will submit a police officer’s affidavit to a judge. If the judge finds that there is probable cause, based on the affidavit, to believe you have committed the crime charged, the judge will set a bond for you. If you can afford the bond, you can bond out after you have been processed (fingerprinted, photographed, etc.) You will be given a bond sheet that contains the time and date of your first court date, the first appearance. If you cannot afford the bond, you will stay in jail until your first appearance, which will occur within 48 hours.

Q: What’s a cash or surety bond?

A: This is the most common type of bond. What it means is that you can pay the entire amount of the bond in cash. Alternatively, you can pay 10 percent of the bond to a bondsman, who will then agree to act as a “surety” for the remaining 90 percent of the bond. For instance, let’s say your bond is $10,000 cash or surety. You can either write a check for the full $10,000 and bond out of jail. When your case is complete, you or whoever posted the bond will get the full $10,000 back. But what if you don’t have $10,000? You can then go through a bondsman. The bondsman will charge you 10 percent, or $1,000, and then act as a “surety” for the remaining $9,000 which means you don’t have to pay it. The drawback is that you will never get that $1,000 back. The bondsman will keep it even after your case is complete.

Q: What’s the first appearance?

A: Your first appearance is your first court date. It’s typically held before a magistrate judge. For misdemeanor charges, this hearing will serve as your arraignment. If you wish, the charges will be read to you. You then enter a plea of (presumably) not guilty. If you’re still in custody, you can make an argument for your bond to be reduced to an amount you can pay. The judge or magistrate will then assign you to the judge who will actually handle your case, and give you your new court date. The new court date will typically be a “trial setting,” a large docket call with a number of other defendants.

For felonies, the first appearance will not serve as an arraignment. It will be a chance to have the charges read to you, and ask for a lesser bond amount if you are still in custody. You will not enter a plea because you will do that at arraignment, which will come later. The judge or magistrate will then assign your case to the judge who will actually handle it and give you a new court date. Your new court date will typically be what’s called a “no-go preliminary hearing.”

Q: What’s a preliminary hearing? What’s the difference between a “go” and a “no-go” preliminary hearing?

A: A preliminary hearing is a right given to all defendants charged with a felony. At that hearing, the prosecutor must prove to the judge that 1) there is probable cause to believe a felony has been committed and 2) that you committed that felony. The hearing is only to a judge, there will be no jury. Also, the prosecutor only has to prove their case by “probable cause,” which requires far less evidence than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The prosecutor has to prove their case using live witnesses and evidence, just like they would at trial.

A “no-go” preliminary hearing is when a preliminary hearing is scheduled, but no hearing will actually take place. It’s used more as a scheduling conference, to determine if you actually want a preliminary hearing or have worked out a plea agreement without a preliminary hearing. If you decide not to have a preliminary hearing, the judge will question whether you are knowingly and intelligently waiving your right to the preliminary hearing.

A “go” preliminary hearing means there will actually be a preliminary hearing, as described above, with witnesses and evidence. Practically, almost everyone is “bound over,” or found that there’s probable cause that they committed the crime charged. After you are bound over, you will be arraigned. It will be at that point that you may have the charges read to you, enter a plea of not guilty, and request a jury trial.

Q: Does Kansas have a speedy trial guarantee?

A: Yes, it actually has three. One is the U.S. Constitutional guarantee, one is the Kansas Constitutional guarantee, and there’s one in the Kansas statutes. The constitutional guarantees are vague, so we’ll focus on the one in the law books.

Under Kansas law, the State has 90 days to bring you to trial if you are in custody, and 180 days if you are not in custody. This law, like most, has a number of exceptions. First, the judge can extend the deadline by 30 days for crowded docket purposes. Second, any delay that results from the action of the defendant “stops the clock.” Which means that if you file a pretrial motion, the time from the date that the motion was filed until it is ruled on by the court is not counted. Also, the time period begins from the date you were arraigned. For misdemeanors, that happens at your first appearance. For felonies, it happens after your preliminary hearing (or some other time if you do not have a preliminary hearing.) If the State cannot bring you to trial within 90 or 180 days, and can’t find any of the exceptions listed, then they have to dismiss the case with prejudice. That means the charges are forever dismissed. It’s as close to it gets as a “get out of jail free” card.

Serving area:
Johnson County, KS: Overland Park, Olathe, Shawnee, Lenexa, Leawood, Prairie Village, Gardner, Merriam, Mission, Roeland Park, Bonner Springs, De Soto, Spring Hill, Fairway, Mission Hills, Edgerton, Westwood, Lake Quivira, Westwood Hills, Mission Woods
Douglas County, KS: Lawrence, Eudora, Baldwin City, Lecompton