An arraignment in Missouri is the first court hearing after a prosecutor files criminal charges against you. The judge reads the charges, explains your rights, decides whether you’ll be released while the case is pending, and asks how you plead. If you were arrested and are being held in custody, the hearing must take place within 48 hours, not counting weekends and holidays.1National Conference of State Legislatures. When Does a First Appearance Take Place in Your State It’s a short hearing, but the choices made during it steer the rest of the case.
When the Hearing Takes Place
Timing depends on how you entered the system. If you were arrested without a warrant, Missouri law requires that you either be formally charged or released within 24 hours.2Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Revised Statutes RSMo 544.170 Once charges are filed and you’re still in custody, the arraignment must happen within 48 hours of your confinement, excluding weekends and holidays.1National Conference of State Legislatures. When Does a First Appearance Take Place in Your State
If you were charged while out of custody, by grand jury indictment or by a prosecutor’s information, you’ll receive a summons with a court date. That date is usually set several weeks out, giving you time to hire an attorney before you appear.
What the Judge Does at the Hearing
The judge calls your case, confirms your identity, and reads the charges. Then the judge explains your constitutional rights. The two that matter most are your Sixth Amendment right to an attorney and your right to a trial. If you’re facing felony charges and cannot afford a lawyer, the court is required to appoint one for you.3Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Revised Statutes RSMo 545.820 The Missouri State Public Defender handles most of those appointments. You can apply online or at the local office covering the county where your charges are pending. Eligibility turns on financial need, and only qualifying state criminal charges are covered. Municipal violations, traffic tickets, and civil cases don’t qualify.4Missouri State Public Defender. How to Apply for Services
The judge also walks through the potential penalties attached to the charges. The hearing ends when you enter a plea.
How to Plead
You have several options, though one is overwhelmingly the right choice in most situations.
Not Guilty
This is the standard plea at arraignment. Pleading not guilty isn’t a claim of innocence. It preserves your rights while the case develops: your right to review the prosecution’s evidence, file motions, negotiate with the prosecutor, and go to trial if it comes to that. If you stay silent or refuse to answer, the judge enters a not guilty plea for you.
Guilty
A guilty plea admits you committed the offense. It waives your right to trial, and the case goes straight to sentencing. Missouri courts examine guilty pleas carefully before accepting them. The judge will ask a series of questions to confirm you understand the rights you’re giving up, that no one coerced you, and that there’s a factual basis for the charge. Pleading guilty at the first hearing is unusual unless a plea agreement is already in place, and even then, having an attorney review the deal first is the wiser move.
No Contest (Nolo Contendere)
A no contest plea produces the same sentencing outcome as a guilty plea with one meaningful difference: it can’t be used against you as an admission of fault in a later civil suit. If the charge arose from an incident that could also lead to civil liability, such as a car accident, a no contest plea keeps the criminal case from becoming evidence in the civil one. Missouri courts allow this plea, and it tends to come up more often in misdemeanor cases than in felonies.
Alford Plea
An Alford plea lets you accept a conviction without admitting that you actually committed the crime. You’re acknowledging that the prosecution’s evidence would likely result in a conviction at trial, while maintaining that you didn’t do it. Missouri courts recognize the Alford plea, but many judges are reluctant to accept one, and no court is obligated to allow it. In practice, it almost always emerges from later negotiations rather than at the initial arraignment.
Waiving the Arraignment
In felony cases, Missouri allows you to skip the arraignment entirely by filing a written waiver. The waiver gives up your right to appear in person, waives the formal reading of charges, and enters a not guilty plea in writing.5Missouri Courts. Entry of Appearance, Waiver of Personal Arraignment – Circuit Felony Your attorney handles the paperwork. This only makes sense when you already have a lawyer, understand the charges, and intend to plead not guilty. If bail or release conditions are open questions, you’ll still need to appear.
Bail and Release
If you’re in custody at arraignment, the judge decides whether to release you while the case moves forward. Missouri’s framework starts from the position that release should be the default, and layers on restrictions only when needed.
The first option the judge considers is release on your written agreement to appear at future court dates, with no money required. If that isn’t enough to ensure your appearance, protect a victim, or keep the public safe, the next step is non-monetary conditions such as no-contact orders, travel restrictions, drug testing, or check-ins with pretrial services.6BillTrack50. Missouri HB2333 – RSMo 544.714
Monetary bail is the last resort. When the judge does set a dollar amount, Missouri law requires it be the least restrictive amount necessary to ensure you appear in court. The judge must look into your actual ability to pay before setting the figure, and the law prohibits setting bail so high that it keeps you locked up only because you can’t afford it.6BillTrack50. Missouri HB2333 – RSMo 544.714 “Ability to pay” under the statute means what you can pay right now, without borrowing money or purchasing a bond.
There is an exception. For certain dangerous felonies and other specified offenses, the presumption flips. The judge can impose a fully secured monetary bond or even deny release.6BillTrack50. Missouri HB2333 – RSMo 544.714 The factors the judge weighs include the seriousness of the charge, your criminal history, your ties to the community, and your record of appearing at past court dates.
If You Miss the Hearing
Missing your arraignment sets off a chain of consequences that makes everything harder. The judge will issue a bench warrant for your arrest, which means any contact with police after that, even a routine traffic stop, can land you in custody.
If you posted bail, the court will order it forfeited. Depending on the jurisdiction, you may have a limited window to appear and ask for the bond to be reinstated before the forfeiture becomes final. Failure to appear can also become a separate criminal charge on top of the original one. The classification of that new charge generally tracks the severity of the underlying offense, so missing court on a felony carries heavier penalties than missing on a misdemeanor.
Beyond the formal consequences, judges and prosecutors remember. A no-show signals unreliability, which makes it harder to get favorable bail terms later and chips away at any goodwill that might help during plea negotiations. If you truly cannot make the date, contact your attorney or the court clerk before the hearing. A request to reschedule is almost always received better than an empty chair.
What Comes Next
What happens after arraignment depends on the plea you entered.
After a not guilty plea, the case enters the pretrial phase. The court sets dates for pretrial conferences and motion hearings. Both sides exchange evidence through discovery, which includes police reports, witness statements, lab results, and anything else the prosecution plans to use at trial. Your attorney may file motions to suppress evidence, challenge the charges, or seek other relief. If you want to push the schedule, you can file a written request for a speedy trial, and the court must then set the case “as soon as reasonably possible.”7Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Revised Statutes RSMo 545.780
After a guilty, no contest, or Alford plea that the judge accepts, there is no trial. The case moves to sentencing, which may happen immediately or at a later hearing.
Preparing for Your Hearing
Get a lawyer before this hearing if at all possible. The arraignment itself is brief, but the choices made during it, especially your plea and how bail is argued, carry through the whole case. If you can’t afford an attorney, apply for a public defender as early as you can. The Missouri State Public Defender’s office takes applications online, and starting before your court date helps avoid delays.4Missouri State Public Defender. How to Apply for Services
Dress as you would for a job interview, arrive early, and bring identification. When the judge speaks to you, answer directly and don’t volunteer information about the facts of your case. Anything you say in open court is on the record. If you don’t understand something, ask for clarification. The court is required to provide an interpreter if you primarily speak a language other than English or have a hearing impairment that makes it difficult to follow the proceedings. If you need that accommodation, tell the court as far in advance as you can.