I Was Arrested Last Night in California. What Happens Now?
Last reviewed: Checked against the current California code on this date.
You were arrested and let go. Here’s what’s true right now. You probably haven’t been charged with anything yet. Police arrest people, but the District Attorney decides whether to file a case, and that usually hasn’t happened. Nothing is required of you tonight except one thing: stop talking about it. But look at the date on the paper they gave you, because you have to show up on it. If this was a DUI, one clock is already running. Everything else can wait until morning.
If this was a DUI, you have 10 days to save your license. That deadline is separate from anything in court. It isn’t printed on your citation. Miss it and you lose the license even if the criminal case goes fine. Go to First DUI in California and handle that first. For every other arrest: find the date on your paperwork and put it in your phone right now. You have to go on that date even if you think there’s no case. Skipping it turns a manageable situation into a warrant.
On this page
- You haven’t been charged yet
- What that piece of paper actually is
- Show up on that date. Yes, even then.
- Stop talking. Tonight, and for a while.
- Write it down before you forget
- Who to call tonight, and who can wait
- What happens next week
- County variation
- What we see in real cases
- Do I need a private lawyer for this?
You haven’t been charged yet
This is the most useful thing to understand tonight, and nobody explains it.
Police arrest. Prosecutors charge. Two different decisions, made by two different offices. The second one usually hasn’t happened.
The officer who arrested you doesn’t decide whether you get prosecuted. They write a report and send it to the District Attorney. The DA reads it and decides whether to file, what to file, and whether to file at all.
That takes time. Often weeks. Sometimes the answer is no case. Sometimes it’s a smaller charge than the officer wrote down. Once in a while it’s a bigger one.
So the honest answer to “what am I charged with” is often: nothing, yet.
What that piece of paper actually is
Look at what they handed you when they let you go. It’s probably a citation, sometimes called a notice to appear. It has a date on it.
That date is more of a placeholder than a promise. It’s when the police told you to come to court. Whether anything is actually on the schedule that day depends on whether the DA filed in time.
Three things can happen:
- A case was filed. You show up and it’s your arraignment, your first court date. Read what happens at arraignment so the room doesn’t surprise you.
- Nothing was filed. Your name isn’t on the list posted outside the courtroom. Common. Not the same as the matter being over, because the DA can still file later.
- Something different was filed. The charge doesn’t have to match what the officer wrote.
Show up on that date. Yes, even then.
This deserves its own section because people talk themselves out of it.
You go on that date. Every time. Even if you’re sure nothing was filed, even if a friend told you it gets dropped, even if you called and nobody could tell you anything.
If there’s no case, you’ll find that out when you get there, and it costs you a morning.
If there is a case and you’re not there, you get a bench warrant. That’s a much worse problem than a morning, and it follows you until a judge cancels it.
You can also check your case online, and that’s the reliable way to find out what’s happening. Don’t call the clerk. Clerks are buried and a phone call will rarely get you an answer. If a case has actually been filed against you personally, you should be notified.
Read more: how long the DA has, and one rule worth knowing
How long they have. The DA isn’t limited to the date on your citation. They have until the legal time limit for that offense runs out.
- Felonies: generally 3 years from the date of the offense (Penal Code 801). Some serious offenses run much longer or have no limit at all.
- Misdemeanors: generally 1 year (Penal Code 802). Certain specific ones get longer.
So a long silence doesn’t mean it’s over. It usually means nobody has decided yet.
One rule worth knowing. There’s a separate situation where an officer lets someone go because they decide there isn’t enough to build a case on. When that happens under Penal Code 849(b)(1), the law says something useful. Under subdivision (c), your record has to show the release, and after that the arrest is treated as a detention only, not an arrest.
That’s a real difference. It isn’t the same as your record being cleared, and it doesn’t happen in most cases. But if it applies to you, it’s worth knowing the words for it.
Stop talking. Tonight, and for a while.
You want to explain. That instinct is normal and it’s the most expensive one you have right now.
- Don’t call the police to clear it up. There’s no version of that call that helps you. The report is already written. Anything you add just gets added to it.
- Don’t post about it. Not a vague comment, not a story, not a joke about a crazy night. Prosecutors read social media, and screenshots outlive deleted posts.
- Don’t text the other person, if there was another person involved. If a restraining order gets issued later, that text becomes evidence. If one already exists, the text is a new crime.
- Don’t explain it to anyone but your lawyer. Friends and family can be forced to testify about what you told them. Your lawyer can’t.
Your right to stay quiet doesn’t end when they let you out. It just gets harder to use.
Write it down before you forget
Memory fades fast. Worse, it drifts toward whatever story you keep telling yourself. Tonight, while it’s fresh, write down everything you can:
- The time you were stopped and the time you were released.
- Where it happened. Cross streets, business name, which entrance.
- How many officers. What they said. What you said. In order.
- Whether they read you your rights, and when.
- Whether anyone searched you, your car, or your bag, and whether they asked permission first.
- Names, badge numbers, patrol car numbers if you have them.
- Anyone who saw it. Names and phone numbers if you can get them.
Photograph any injuries tonight, and again in two days. Bruises develop. A photo taken 48 hours later often shows more than one taken right away.
Keep all the paperwork, including the receipt for anything they took. One envelope.
Who to call tonight, and who can wait
Tonight: nobody, usually. If you’re out and safe there’s no emergency at 2am, and no lawyer will do anything before morning. Sleep.
Tonight, if you or someone else is still in jail. Then call a criminal defense lawyer right away. The first court date and the bail decision can happen within about 48 hours, and having a lawyer at that hearing changes what happens.
Within a few days: a criminal defense lawyer, for a consultation. Most give a free first call. Ask two things. What am I actually facing, and is there anything I should be doing right now that I’m not?
Not the public defender, not yet. This surprises people. The public defender won’t take your case or talk to you before charges are filed. They get involved once they’re appointed, which happens in court. So there’s no office to call tonight, and nobody is working your case in the meantime.
Not your employer yet either. Unless a contract or a license requires you to report it immediately. Check what you actually agreed to before volunteering anything. Many professional licenses require reporting a conviction, not an arrest, and those are very different things.
What happens next week
Realistically, nothing you can see. The report goes to the DA, the DA reads it, and you wait.
Expect that to take a while. It does in every county, and it’s slowest on lower level cases, which is the opposite of what people assume. A minor charge doesn’t mean a fast answer. It usually means yours sits behind the serious ones.
The silence is normal. It doesn’t mean something is wrong or that you were forgotten.
Use the time. Get the consultation. And if the arrest involved alcohol or drugs and you’ve been meaning to deal with that, start now. Prosecutors and judges treat someone who got help on their own very differently from someone a court ordered into a program.
County variation
We write mostly about San Diego, and also Riverside and San Bernardino.
On this particular question the counties don’t differ much. Filing decisions take a long time everywhere, and everywhere the answer is the same: check online, and go on your date.
What we see in real cases
- The waiting is the hardest part and there’s nothing unusual about it. Weeks of silence is the normal rhythm, and a lower level charge often waits longest.
- The people who make things worse do it in the first week, with their phone. Texts, calls, and posts sent while upset become the strongest evidence in the file.
- Charges often come in lower than the arrest. What an officer books you for is a starting position, not a prediction.
- Nobody is going to call you. Not the DA, not the public defender, not the court. If you’re waiting for someone to reach out and tell you where things stand, you’ll wait a long time. Check online instead.
- Show up on your date even when you’re certain nothing was filed. Being wrong gets you a warrant, and warrants are much harder to undo than mornings are to lose.
Do I need a private lawyer for this?
Not tonight. Yes, before your court date.
If the case is minor and you qualify, the public defender is genuinely good, and you apply at your first court date. Just understand they won’t be doing anything for you until then.
That gap is the argument for a private consultation in the meantime. A defense lawyer can look at what happened and tell you what you’re facing while the DA is still deciding.
They can also reach out to the DA before anything is filed. Be realistic about that one. It rarely changes the outcome. But it costs little, it occasionally matters, and a good lawyer will try. Just don’t hire someone because they promise it will work.
Get someone involved sooner if the case involves a felony, an injury, a restraining order, immigration, or a professional license.
This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to a California attorney about your situation.
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