If you have been arrested or handed a summons in Greene, Monroe, Lawrence or Owen County, the first thing on the calendar is usually an initial hearing. It is short — often less than ten minutes — and it is easy to walk out of the courtroom unsure what just happened. Here is what the hearing actually is, what the judge is required to tell you, and what the clock starts running on the moment it ends.
What an initial hearing is for
An initial hearing is not a trial. Nobody puts on evidence, no witnesses testify, and nothing gets decided about guilt. Indiana Criminal Rule 2.3 requires the court to advise you of your applicable constitutional rights and of the deadlines set out in Indiana Code 35-33-7-5. In practice the hearing does four things: tells you what you are charged with, tells you your rights, sets or reviews your release conditions, and puts a preliminary plea of not guilty on the record for you.
The advisements the court has to give you
Under IC 35-33-7-5, at the initial hearing the court must inform you — orally or in writing — of:
- the nature of the charge against you, and your right to a copy of the formal felony charges (for misdemeanors, a copy on request);
- your right to hire an attorney, and the deadline to do it: 20 days if you are charged with a felony, 10 days if you are charged only with misdemeanors;
- your right to assigned counsel at no cost if you are indigent;
- your right to a speedy trial;
- the amount and conditions of your bail;
- your privilege against self-incrimination;
- that a preliminary plea of not guilty is being entered for you, and that it becomes a formal plea of not guilty 20 days after the hearing (10 days in a misdemeanor-only case) unless you enter a different plea.
That 20-day / 10-day language is the part people gloss over. The statute itself says the reason for the deadline is that there are deadlines for filing motions and raising defenses — and if those are missed, the issues and defenses that could have been raised are waived. A dropped deadline can quietly close a door before anyone has argued anything.
Criminal Rule 2.3 also protects you while you are unrepresented: if you have not waived your right to counsel, the State is not to engage in plea negotiations or diversion agreements with you, and the court is not to accept a guilty plea.
Release and bail: what the rules say
Indiana Criminal Rule 2.6, effective January 1, 2024, tells courts that if an arrestee does not present a substantial risk of flight or of danger to themselves or others, the court should release them without money bail or surety, subject to conditions the court sets. There are carve-outs: a charge of murder or treason, someone already on pretrial release in an unrelated matter, or someone on probation, parole or other community supervision.
In making that call, the rule directs courts to use the results of an evidence-based risk assessment approved by the Office of Judicial Administration, along with other relevant information. The court does not have to wait for an assessment if waiting would delay release. Statements you make for purposes of preparing that assessment are not admissible against you in a later civil or criminal proceeding, with narrow exceptions inside pretrial proceedings (Rule 2.6(D)).
If the court does set money bail, IC 35-33-8-3.2 is the menu of conditions it can attach to release — reporting requirements, supervision by probation or a pretrial services agency, restrictions on activities, movements, associations or residence, and release on personal recognizance in some circumstances. Those conditions are real orders. Violating one is its own problem, separate from the underlying charge.
What to do before you walk in
- Bring the paperwork you were given. The charging information, the bond paperwork, the summons, the property receipt. Whatever was handed to you in a plastic bag at 2 a.m. counts.
- Write down the date, time, and courtroom for the next setting before you leave the building. Then put it in your phone in the parking lot. A missed setting is one of the most avoidable problems in a criminal case.
- Know your own deadline. Twenty days for a felony, ten for misdemeanors only. Call an attorney well inside that window, not on day nineteen.
- Read the release conditions out loud to yourself. No contact with a named person? Travel limits? Testing? Ask the court or your attorney what each one means in ordinary language.
- Do not explain your side to anyone but your lawyer. Not the officer, not the prosecutor, not the friend who was there. Not on Facebook.
- Update your address with the court if it changes. Notices go to the address on file, and “I never got the notice” is not a fix.
The hearing is short. The case is not.
Most of what matters in a criminal case happens in the weeks after the initial hearing: discovery, pretrial motions, negotiations, and the scheduling decisions that shape everything else. The hearing itself is mostly a starting gun — but it hands you a set of rights and a set of deadlines on the way out the door.
Sutton Law Office handles criminal defense in Greene, Monroe, Lawrence and Owen Counties, and we are used to walking people through this first stage. If you have a court date coming up and you do not know what it is for, call the office at 812-269-2641.
This post is general information about Indiana law and procedure, not legal advice about your situation. Every case is different, and reading a blog post is no substitute for talking with an attorney about the facts of yours.