What Happens After an Arrest in Michigan: Booking to the First Court Dates

Where you are in the process

Someone was arrested, and now there are words you have never had to understand: booking, interim bond, arraignment, probable cause conference, bind-over. Each one is a stage, each stage happens in a set place, and each one decides something specific. Knowing the order takes some of the fear out of it.

This page is general information about how a Michigan criminal case moves from arrest to the first court dates. It is not advice about any one case, and courts differ in scheduling and in whether hearings are held by video. Talk to a lawyer about your own facts. For the practical questions people ask in the first hours, see the site’s just arrested page; for what the charge itself means, start at the criminal defense practice areas.

Stage 1: The arrest, with or without a warrant

An arrest happens one of two ways. With a warrant, a judge or magistrate has already found probable cause and ordered the arrest; the sibling guide what to do if there is a warrant covers that path. Without a warrant, MCL 764.15(1) lists when a peace officer may arrest on the spot, including when a felony, misdemeanor or ordinance violation is committed in the officer’s presence, when the officer has reasonable cause to believe the person committed a felony, or when the officer has reasonable cause to believe the person committed a misdemeanor punishable by more than 92 days.

From the moment of arrest, the rules on talking to police apply. The sibling guide should you talk to the police explains the right to remain silent and the words that invoke it. The short version: do not resist, follow lawful commands, and ask for a lawyer before answering questions about the facts.

Stage 2: Booking, tickets and interim bond

Booking is paperwork and biometrics. Under MCL 28.243(1), the arresting agency must collect fingerprints and other biometric data for a felony or a misdemeanor punishable by more than 92 days and forward them to the State Police within 72 hours; MCL 28.243(2) extends collection to misdemeanors with a 93-day maximum. If the person is released without charges, MCL 28.243(7) requires the biometric data and arrest card to be destroyed immediately.

What happens next depends on the charge. Three paths:

• Appearance ticket. For most misdemeanors and ordinance violations with a maximum of 1 year, MCL 764.9c(4) requires the officer to issue an appearance ticket and release the person, so there is no jail stay at all. The ticket lists the court and date. Exceptions in MCL 764.9c(3) and (4) include domestic violence, assaultive crimes, serious misdemeanors and operating while intoxicated, and MCL 764.9c(5) lets the officer take the person before a magistrate instead for reasons such as no identification or a refusal to follow instructions.
• Interim bond at the station or jail. When no magistrate is available, MCL 780.581(2) lets a person arrested for a misdemeanor post an interim bond with the arresting officer, the department or the jail, in an amount the officer sets within the statute’s range. A person the officer believes is intoxicated is held until in proper condition to be released or until the next session of court under MCL 780.581(3).
• Held for arraignment. Felony arrests, and misdemeanors outside the ticket and interim bond rules, wait for a judge or magistrate. Domestic assault has its own rule: under MCL 780.582a(1) the person is held until arraigned or until a judge or district court magistrate sets interim bond, with no police-set bond. The domestic violence guide explains how long you are held after a domestic violence arrest; the OWI guide covers what happens after an OWI arrest.

Stage 3: Arraignment in district court

Every Michigan criminal case, misdemeanor or felony, is arraigned first in district court, which under MCL 600.8311(c) has jurisdiction over arraignments, the fixing of bail and the accepting of bonds in all cases. Unless released beforehand, an arrested person must be arraigned without unnecessary delay, in person or by two-way video, under MCR 6.104(A), and is entitled to a lawyer at that hearing unless the person waives one or the court issues a personal bond and takes no plea.

At a misdemeanor arraignment, MCR 6.610(D)(1) requires the court to state the name of the offense, the maximum sentence, and the rights to a lawyer, to an appointed lawyer when the rule applies, and to a trial, including a jury trial when the law provides one. A plea may be entered. At a felony arraignment, MCR 6.104(E) requires the court to state the charge and maximum sentence, advise of the right to a lawyer, decide release, and set the next two dates; the court may not ask about the offense or request a plea.

Release is decided here under MCR 6.106(A): held, released on personal recognizance or an unsecured bond, or released on conditions with or without money bail. Two sibling guides take this stage apart: what an arraignment is and what bond and bail mean.

Stage 4: Two tracks, misdemeanor and felony

After arraignment the case splits by how the charge is graded. Under MCL 600.8311(a), district court has jurisdiction over misdemeanors punishable by up to 1 year, so a misdemeanor stays there from start to finish. Under MCR 6.610(B) the court may direct the prosecutor, the defendant and defense counsel to appear for a pretrial conference, where plea talks happen and motions may be set. If there is no plea, the case is set for trial in district court.

A felony starts in district court too, but only for its opening stages. Under MCL 766.4(1), the magistrate sets a probable cause conference 7 to 14 days after arraignment and a preliminary examination 5 to 7 days after that. Under MCL 766.4 the conference covers plea discussions, bail, stipulations and procedural matters; the parties may waive it by agreement and must tell the court whether the examination will be held, waived or replaced by a plea. At the preliminary examination the prosecutor must show probable cause that a felony was committed and that the defendant committed it; if the court so finds, MCR 6.110(E) requires it to bind the defendant over to circuit court, and MCL 600.8311(f) assigns felony sentencing to a circuit judge.

The defendant may waive the examination with the prosecutor’s consent under MCR 6.110(A). What the hearing is for, and why it is often kept, is explained on the preliminary examination page and the sibling guides what is a preliminary exam and district court vs circuit court.

Your part in each stage, and when a lawyer matters

Most of the sequence above runs on the court’s clock, not yours. Your part is smaller and more important: show up to every date, follow every release condition, keep every paper, and say nothing about the facts to anyone but your lawyer. The first 48 hours after an arrest is the checklist version.

Decisions that are yours alone, and that a lawyer should be part of, come early: whether to speak with police, whether to ask for appointed counsel at arraignment, whether to seek a change in bond conditions, and, in a felony case, whether to hold or waive the preliminary examination. Each of those happens in the first few weeks, which is why the time to find a lawyer is before the second court date, not after.

The office of Attorney Shawn Haff, a criminal defense practice in Michigan state courts with offices in Wyoming and Grand Rapids, offers a free consultation at 616-438-6719, answered 24 hours a day; the contact page has the details. Whoever you talk to, bring the papers from the arrest and the date of the next hearing.