What Happens After You've Been Charged With a Crime?

The Path From Charge to Resolution

After a criminal charge is laid, every case follows a recognizable path: release or bail, a first court appearance, disclosure of the prosecution's evidence, resolution discussions, and — for the minority of cases that don't resolve — a trial. In Canada, charges are prosecuted by the Crown and begin with an Information sworn before a justice; in the United States, prosecutions begin with a complaint, information, or grand jury indictment depending on the state and the severity of the offence. Despite the different labels, the practical stages an accused person moves through are strikingly similar on both sides of the border.

The single biggest variable in how the process feels is custody status. A person released on an undertaking or bond prepares for court from home, on their own schedule; a person held in custody faces a bail hearing within days that will shape everything after it. Canadian law requires an arrested person to be brought before a justice generally within 24 hours, while US jurisdictions typically require an initial appearance within 24 to 72 hours. Either way, the earliest days after a charge are when legal advice delivers the most value.

What Actually Happens at a First Appearance

A first appearance is administrative, not a trial. Nobody testifies, no evidence is called, and in most cases the accused says almost nothing. The court confirms the charges, addresses legal representation, deals with disclosure, and sets a next date. In many Canadian courthouses a lawyer can appear on your behalf as agent or by designation; in US courts, arraignment practice varies — some states require the defendant's personal attendance and take a plea at the first hearing, while others treat it as a scheduling event.

The most common first-appearance mistakes are avoidable: not attending (which produces a bench warrant and a failure-to-appear charge), pleading guilty before seeing any evidence, and speaking about the facts of the case on the record. If you do not yet have a lawyer, duty counsel in Canada or the public defender's office in the US can assist at the appearance itself — and asking for an adjournment to get counsel is routine and almost always granted for a first appearance.

Disclosure: Your Right to See the Evidence

In Canada, R. v. Stinchcombe established that the Crown must disclose all relevant evidence to the defence — police notes, witness statements, video, forensic results — whether it helps or hurts the prosecution. In the United States, Brady v. Maryland requires prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence, and state discovery rules add broader obligations that vary considerably. In both countries, disclosure is the foundation of every defence decision: no competent lawyer advises a plea before reviewing it.

Disclosure rarely arrives complete on day one. Initial packages are often followed by supplementary disclosure over weeks or months, and pressing for missing items — 911 recordings, body-camera footage, officer notes — is a core part of defence work. This is one of several reasons early representation matters: a lawyer on record can request, track, and chase disclosure from the first appearance onward, while an unrepresented accused often loses months waiting for material they didn't know they were entitled to demand.

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