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Cal. Penal Code § 976

Of the Arraignment of the Defendant

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case 4 Cal. 4th 29 - Ng v. Superior Court (1992)

Most recently applied in 172 Cal. App. 4th 89 - People v. Maldonado (March 2009)

Amended by Stats. 1982, Ch. 395, Sec. 1.

How often courts cite this section

19922000200910
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) When the accusatory pleading is filed, the defendant shall be arraigned thereon before the court in which it is filed, unless the action is transferred to some other court for trial. However, within any county, if the defendant is in custody, upon the approval of both the presiding judge of the court in which the accusatory pleading is filed and the presiding judge of the court nearest to the place in which he or she is held in custody the arraignment may be before the court nearest to that place of custody.

(b) A defendant arrested in another county shall have the right to be taken before a magistrate in the arresting county for the purpose of being admitted to bail, as provided in Section 821 or 822. The defendant shall be informed of this right.

(c) Prior to being taken from the place where he or she is in custody to the place where he or she is to be arraigned, the defendent shall be allowed to make three completed telephone calls, at no expense to the defendant, in addition to any other telephone calls which the defendant is entitled to make pursuant to law.

Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.