Once the Defendant bonds out (or if he was never taken into custody in the first place) it may or may not be necessary that he physically appear at each and every future Court date. This is in stark contrast to cases involving felony charges which mandate the physical appearance of the Defendant at every Court appearance. I have, for instance, managed many misdemeanor cases for out-of-state clients as well as deployed Service Members in such a way that they have never had to physically appear a single time in a Colorado courtroom. Furthermore, each jurisdiction has slightly different rules regarding mandatory vs. discretionary Court appearances by a Defendant on misdemeanor cases. Sometimes those rules vary from Judge to Judge in the very same Courthouse. An experienced attorney can help prepare you for whether you will need to miss work or otherwise arrange for the necessity of appearing for your next misdemeanor Court date.

After the initial Advisement or the First Appearance on the face of the Summons and Complaint, a Colorado misdemeanor matter is normally reset for a Pretrial Conference. As the title indicates, this Court session is meant to give your attorney an opportunity to sit down with the County Court District Attorney and have a discussion with him or her in the hope of resolving your case without the need for a Trial. This Pretrial Conference will usually be within a month or two from the initial date on the Summons and Complaint or the initial Advisement for those who were taken into custody.

Ideally, by that time, your attorney will have received the police report (called the Discovery) pertaining to the case and will have reviewed it with you prior to that Pretrial Conference. He may also have conducted his own investigation or witness interviews in preparation of sitting down with the prosecutor at this first Pretrial Conference.

If a Plea Agreement is reached at this initial Pretrial Conference the case may well be finalized at this hearing. If an agreement between the parties is not reached, the parties may agree to reset the case for another Pretrial Conference if they feel further discussions may yet yield fruit. If not, the case will be scheduled for either a potential Dispositional date or for Trial. Again, this future date will likely be around thirty days out if it involves a potential Dispositional date. If the case is set for Trial it must be scheduled within six months of your Not Guilty plea being entered. The Trial may be set as soon as forty-five days out, depending on the jurisdiction and how busy the Court’s docket is at that moment.

A misdemeanor Trial can involve either a Jury or a Judge alone. If the Judge tries the case all by herself then she alone decides if the Defendant is guilty or not guilty and, if the Defendant is found guilty, she alone decides the appropriate sentence. If a Jury Trial occurs, the Jury decides the issue of guilt and the Judge will then decide the appropriate sentence if the Jury returns a finding of guilty. An important difference between misdemeanor and felony cases is that misdemeanors involve only six jurors while felonies involve twelve. However, misdemeanor verdicts must be unanimous one way or the other, just like in felony cases.