 One of the questions I get all the time is, what is a criminal arraignment? A criminal arraignment is the first court appearance that someone has after being charged with a crime. You may remember the infamous O.J. Simpson case where he stood in front of a judge and said, I'm 100% not guilty. And that's what happens. At an arraignment, it's the first time for a defendant to plead to their case. Here in Florida, there's three options that you can do. Number one, you can plead guilty. Number two, you can plead not guilty or you can plead no contest. Now usually a lawyer will file a written plea of not guilty because they don't have all the information. They want the discovery. They want the police reports. They want videotapes. They want witness statements. They want information that they can use to help represent their client vigorously. So at an arraignment, if you plead guilty or no contest, you will be sentenced at that point. So 90% of the time in our practice, in most practices, we will enter a written plea of not guilty so we can get the information so we can more better and sufficiently and thoroughly represent your interests. Carlson Meisner, Hardin-Haslet, protecting your rights since 1971.