FAQ 13: What happens during an arraignment?
During an arraignment, that’s the time the state has where they announce whether they are going to file charges against you, not file charges against you or file more serious or less serious charges against you. At that point you can plead guilty, not guilty, and that’s basically it.
Ideally, if you have a lawyer you don’t even have to go to your arraignment because once we file our notice of appearance on your behalf, we file along with our notice of appearance, a waiver of your appearance at any pre-trial matters including the arraignment. So, while you are entitled to still go to the arraignment if you’d still like to, you don’t have to take that day off of work or go into court if you don’t want to because we will be there representing you.