After an indictment, your case moves through a predictable sequence: you’re brought before a judge, you enter a plea at arraignment, the court decides whether you’ll be released while the case is pending, both sides exchange evidence and file motions, and the case ends in a plea deal, a trial verdict, or a dismissal. A guilty outcome is followed by sentencing, and a conviction can be appealed within a tight deadline. Understanding what happens after an indictment helps you see where the real decisions get made, because most of them happen long before trial.
An indictment itself is not a finding of guilt. A grand jury has decided there is enough evidence for the prosecution to proceed, and the document names the alleged offense and the specific law you’re accused of violating. Everything described below flows from that filing.
How You Get to Court
Once the indictment is filed, the court must bring you before a judge, and it does so in one of two ways. A summons is a written order telling you to appear at a specific courthouse on a specific date. An arrest warrant directs law enforcement to take you into custody. Courts tend to issue warrants for serious charges, when there’s reason to think you might flee, or when you pose a safety concern. Ignoring a summons invites a warrant: on the government’s request, the court must issue one.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 9 – Arrest Warrant or Summons on an Indictment or Information
The Arraignment and Your Plea
The arraignment is your first formal appearance after indictment. The court confirms you have a copy of the charging document, reads or explains the charges, and asks for your plea.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 10 – Arraignment The judge also advises you of your constitutional rights, including the right to a lawyer. If you cannot afford one, the court will appoint one.
Your options are not guilty, guilty, or no contest. No contest means you accept the punishment without admitting guilt and requires the court’s approval.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 11 – Pleas The overwhelming majority of defendants plead not guilty at arraignment, including many who later negotiate a plea. Pleading not guilty preserves your right to a trial while your attorney reviews the evidence.
Pretrial Release or Detention
At or shortly after arraignment, the judge decides whether you’ll remain in custody or go home while the case is pending. Federal law creates a presumption in favor of release. The judge should let you go on your own promise to return unless that won’t reasonably ensure your appearance or protect the safety of others.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3142 – Release or Detention of a Defendant Pending Trial
When a simple promise is not enough, the judge imposes the least restrictive combination of conditions that will address the court’s concerns. Common conditions include regular check-ins with a pretrial services officer, travel restrictions, surrendering your passport, drug testing, curfews, electronic monitoring, and no-contact orders. The judge can require a cash bond or property as collateral, but federal law prohibits setting a financial condition so high that it effectively keeps you locked up.
In weighing release, the judge considers the nature of the charge, the strength of the evidence, your personal history (ties to the community, employment, criminal record, whether you were on probation or parole), and the danger your release would pose. For the most serious offenses, prosecutors can request a detention hearing and argue that no conditions will work. If the judge agrees, you stay in jail until the case resolves. State bail procedures vary, but most weigh flight risk against community safety in similar terms.
The Speedy Trial Clock
In federal court, the Speedy Trial Act requires that trial begin within 70 days of the indictment being made public or your first appearance before a judge, whichever is later.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions You are also entitled to at least 30 days to prepare; trial cannot start sooner unless you agree in writing.
In practice, 70 days stretches. The clock pauses for pretrial motions, competency evaluations, plea negotiations, delays tied to other pending charges, and continuances granted because a case is complex. Most federal cases take several months or longer to reach trial, and defense attorneys often agree to extensions because rushing in unprepared rarely helps.
If the government misses the deadline without a valid reason, you can move to dismiss. The court then decides whether to dismiss permanently or allow refiling, weighing the seriousness of the offense and the reasons for the delay.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3162 – Sanctions You lose this right if you don’t raise it before trial or before entering a guilty plea. State speedy trial rules exist too, with different timeframes.
Discovery and Pretrial Motions
The longest stretch of a criminal case is the pretrial phase, which runs on two parallel tracks.
What the Defense Gets to See
Discovery is the exchange of information between the parties. The prosecution must let you inspect and copy documents, physical evidence, and test results that are material to your defense or that the government plans to use at trial.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 16 – Discovery and Inspection Lab reports, photographs, and seized items fall into this bucket. The duty is continuing: new evidence must be turned over as it surfaces.8United States Department of Justice. Justice 101 – Discovery
Discovery has limits that catch people off guard. Internal government memos and work product are generally protected. More importantly, statements by government witnesses are not turned over during pretrial discovery at all. Under federal law, those statements stay sealed until the witness finishes testifying at trial, at which point your attorney can demand them for cross-examination.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3500 – Demands for Production of Statements and Reports of Witnesses Your defense will not see the exact words a witness gave investigators until trial is already underway.
One category of evidence the prosecution cannot withhold is material that tends to show your innocence or reduce your punishment. The Supreme Court established this rule in Brady v. Maryland, and violating it is a constitutional error that can overturn a conviction.10Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Brady v. Maryland Prosecutors must disclose this evidence whether or not the defense asks for it.
Motions That Can Reshape the Case
While discovery unfolds, attorneys file motions asking the judge to resolve legal questions before trial. The most common is a motion to suppress evidence, a request to exclude evidence obtained in violation of your constitutional rights, such as an illegal search or a coerced confession.11National Institute of Justice. Law 101 – Motion to Suppress If the judge grants the motion, the prosecution loses that evidence, and sometimes the case collapses with it.
Other motions include requests to dismiss the indictment as legally insufficient, requests to move the trial elsewhere when pretrial publicity threatens a fair jury, and motions to sever unrelated counts into separate trials. A successful suppression ruling often prompts a much better plea offer than the one on the table before.
Plea Bargaining
Behind the motions and discovery, plea negotiations are almost always running. Plea bargains resolve the vast majority of criminal cases, with researchers estimating 90 to 95 percent of both federal and state cases end this way.12Bureau of Justice Assistance. Plea and Charge Bargaining Research Summary Your attorney negotiates with the prosecutor. The deal can take several forms: dropping charges, reducing their severity, or recommending a lighter sentence.
Federal plea agreements come in three types, and the differences matter. In one, the government dismisses charges in exchange for a guilty plea. In another, the government recommends a sentence, but the judge is free to ignore the recommendation, and you cannot withdraw your plea if the judge imposes something harsher.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 11 – Pleas In the third and most protective type, the government agrees to a specific sentence that binds the judge once accepted. If the judge rejects that agreement, you get to withdraw the plea.
Accepting a plea means giving up your trial rights. The judge must confirm the plea is voluntary, that you understand the consequences, and that a factual basis supports the charges. Judges are not rubber stamps and can reject a plea they consider too lenient or contrary to the interests of justice. Ask your attorney which type of agreement you are being offered and what the judge can do with it.
If the Case Goes to Trial
When negotiations fail and motions don’t end the case, it goes to trial. The prosecution carries the entire burden and must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest standard of proof in the legal system. You are not required to prove anything, testify, or present any evidence.
Trial begins with jury selection. Attorneys question potential jurors to identify bias and can strike them for stated reasons or use a limited number of strikes without giving a reason. In federal criminal cases, the jury has twelve members and the verdict must be unanimous.13Constitution Annotated. Unanimity of the Jury Each side then delivers an opening statement, with the defense free to reserve its opening until later.
The prosecution puts on its case first, calling witnesses and introducing evidence, each witness subject to cross-examination by your attorney. When the prosecution rests, the defense may present its own case but is not required to. Closing arguments follow, the judge instructs the jury on the law, and the jury deliberates in private.
A not-guilty verdict is an acquittal, and the Fifth Amendment’s protection against double jeopardy bars the government from trying you again for the same offense.14Constitution Annotated. Overview of Double Jeopardy Clause One important exception: because each government is treated as a separate authority, a state acquittal does not prevent a federal prosecution for the same conduct under a federal statute, and vice versa.15Legal Information Institute. Gamble v United States
If the jurors cannot agree unanimously, the judge declares a mistrial. That is a hung jury, not an acquittal. Double jeopardy does not attach, so the prosecution can retry the case, negotiate a plea, or drop the charges. The decision usually turns on how the jury split, the strength of the evidence, and the resources the prosecution is willing to spend on a second trial.
Sentencing After a Conviction
A guilty verdict or guilty plea moves the case to sentencing, which in federal court rarely happens the same day. A probation officer first prepares a presentence report. The officer interviews you about your background (family, education, employment, health, substance use) and also talks to the prosecutor, law enforcement, and victims.16United States Probation and Pretrial Services. Presentence Investigation The report calculates where your case falls under the federal sentencing guidelines.
Those guidelines use a grid. One axis is the offense level, reflecting the seriousness of the crime and any enhancements such as use of a weapon. The other is your criminal history category, based on prior convictions. The intersection produces a recommended range in months.17United States Sentencing Commission. Sentencing Table The range is advisory, not mandatory. The judge can go above or below after considering factors like deterrence, public protection, and the goal of avoiding unwarranted sentencing disparities.
At the sentencing hearing, both sides argue for a particular sentence, and you have the right to speak directly to the judge. That is called allocution. Victims may also address the court. The judge then imposes the sentence, which can include prison time, probation, supervised release, fines, restitution, or a combination. The presentence report follows you into the Bureau of Prisons, where it influences facility assignment and program eligibility.
Appeals
A conviction is not necessarily the end. You can appeal to a higher court if you believe legal errors occurred, such as a wrong ruling on a suppression motion, improperly admitted evidence, or an unlawful sentence.18United States Department of Justice. Justice 101 – Appeal An appeal is not a new trial. The appellate court reviews the record for specific legal mistakes and does not hear new witnesses or re-weigh the facts.
In federal cases, you must file a notice of appeal within 14 days after the judgment is entered.19Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 4 – Appeal as of Right, When Taken Miss that deadline and you generally lose the right. State deadlines vary but are equally strict. If the appellate court finds a significant error, it can reverse the conviction, order a new trial, or send the case back for resentencing. If you pleaded guilty, your appeal rights are much narrower, because most plea agreements include a waiver that preserves appeal only in limited circumstances such as an illegal sentence or ineffective assistance of counsel.