4. Calendar Court Date
If you ignore your first court date in Ukiah, or forget to appear in Mendocino County superior court, then the court will most likely immediately issue a warrant for your arrest. Such a development would lead to severe inconvenience to you, and would later look bad to the court. If you bailed out of a Mendocino County jail, then most likely the jailer or your bail company gave you your first date to appear.
Court date on citation.
In many cases you can find your promise to appear court date at the bottom of the citation you were handed by Mendocino County police. Click below to see samples of typical citations showing an arrestee's first court date at the bottom of the front side, and additional information on the reverse:
Ukiah Police Department citation
Santa Rosa Police Department citation
Court date on bail papers.
If you did not receive a citation, or it has no court date, but you bailed out of jail, then your bail receipt should have your court date listed. Click here for examples of your first court date listed on an Aladdin Statement Of Charges, or a Romelli Bail Receipt. If you paid a cash bail directly to the court rather than using a bail company, then click here to see an example of a Cash Bail Receipt page where the first court date is hand-written at the bottom, or a small Jail Receipt where the first court date is printed at the bottom.
District Attorney Cite Letter.
Sometimes no citation is issued at the time of an incident (often after an accident), or a defendant shows for court at the time listed and there are no charges, or for some other reason a defendant receives a Cite Letter from the Mendocino County District Attorney, listing the charges filed, a first court date to appear, and typically a request to present for booking and release one week prior to the court date if booking was not performed following the incident in question. This is the time to hire a local Mendocino County DUI lawyer if not already accomplished.
With respect to the request to appear for booking, most Ukiah DUI attorneys are aware of PC 853.6(g) which allows for such a booking procedure, but this statute provides that failure to comply with the request to present for booking prior to court simply results in an order from the judge to do so before the next court appearance.
Haven't hired a lawyer yet?
If you cannot decide what to do before your first appearance, you may stand up in court in Ukiah when your case is called, and tell the judge that you want additional time to speak with a lawyer. If you cannot afford to hire a private Mendocino County DUI lawyer, then you may appear at the first court date...
... and before saying anything else, ask for a public defender to be appointed (note: Mendocino County public defenders do not contact DMV for you or handle DMV hearings). The reasons listed above for getting a local Mendocino DUI lawyer apply whether you are paying for a private attorney or using a publically appointed attorney. Get a lawyer!