A criminal case in Stateline or anywhere in Douglas County runs on short deadlines set by statute: 48 hours to a release hearing, 15 days to a preliminary hearing, 30 days after arraignment to request the State’s evidence, 10 days to appeal a justice-court conviction. Some can be extended and some can be waived. A few, once missed, are gone.
Which deadlines apply depends on the charge. A misdemeanor starts and finishes in justice court. A felony or gross misdemeanor starts in justice court, where a judge decides whether the State has enough to go forward, and is then tried in the Ninth Judicial District Court. A DUI also opens a separate license case with the Nevada DMV.
I’m Theodore FitzGerald, a criminal defense lawyer in Stateline. I work from one rule: the government has to follow the law at every step. In a Douglas County case that rule comes with deadlines, and I track every one.
Which court hears a Douglas County case?
Justice courts hear all misdemeanors and no more serious crime. Douglas County has two:
- Tahoe Justice Court in Stateline, for the Tahoe side of the county, including the casino corridor and Kingsbury Grade.
- East Fork Justice Court in Minden, for the Carson Valley: Minden, Gardnerville, Genoa, Topaz Lake, and the surrounding area.
Felonies and gross misdemeanors are tried in the Ninth Judicial District Court, which shares a building with East Fork Justice Court at 1038 Buckeye Road in Minden. A felony from the lake starts in Stateline and is tried in Minden; a felony from the valley starts and is tried under the same roof.
A misdemeanor carries up to 6 months in county jail and a $1,000 fine unless the statute for that offense says otherwise. A gross misdemeanor carries up to 364 days and a $2,000 fine, with the same exception. Felonies are graded category A through E, each with its own prison range.
The steps of a Douglas County case
1. Arrest, or a citation instead
Not every arrest ends in jail. For many misdemeanors and most traffic offenses, the officer writes a citation, you sign a promise to appear, and you leave. For a DUI, domestic battery, or most felonies, expect booking.
You do not have to answer questions, and you can ask for a lawyer. Before custodial questioning, police must warn you of both rights, and once you ask for a lawyer, questioning must stop until one is present. More on this is on The First 72 Hours After a Nevada Arrest.
2. Booking and the jail
At the Douglas County jail, booking means fingerprints, photographs, a property inventory, and a records check. You have the right to a reasonable number of completed phone calls immediately after booking and, except where physically impossible, within 3 hours of arrest. Those calls must include one to a friend or bail agent and one to a lawyer.
3. Getting out: holds, bail, and the 48-hour hearing
Anyone arrested for an offense other than first-degree murder must be admitted to bail, but some arrests carry a hold first. A person arrested for an alcohol DUI is held until a breath test shows less than 0.04. A drug DUI or a domestic battery means at least 12 hours. Anyone still in custody gets a pretrial release hearing within 48 hours. The court may impose bail or conditions only as the least restrictive means necessary, and if the prosecutor wants money bail, the prosecutor has to prove the need by clear and convincing evidence. Bail bonds, cash bail, and conditions are covered on Bail, Custody, and Getting Out of the Douglas County Jail.
4. The first appearance
After a warrantless arrest, the Fourth Amendment requires a judge’s finding of probable cause, generally within 48 hours. Nevada separately requires that an arrested person be brought before a judge “without unnecessary delay.” If that has not happened within 72 hours, not counting nonjudicial days, the prosecutor has to explain the delay and the judge may release the person.
At the first appearance the judge tells you the charge, your right to hire a lawyer or ask for an appointed one, and, on a felony, your right to a preliminary hearing. The judge must also tell you that you are not required to make a statement and that anything you say may be used against you.
5. Misdemeanors: arraignment in justice court
For a misdemeanor, the arraignment is where the plea is entered. The complaint is read to you before you are asked to plead, and the court decides whether you are eligible for a preprosecution diversion program. Diversion is not available on a DUI, a domestic battery, or several other charges.
The plea at arraignment is almost always not guilty. That keeps every option open and starts the deadlines below.
6. Do I have to come back to Nevada for court?
Usually not for every date. Tahoe Justice Court and East Fork Justice Court both accept written requests to appear by Zoom. Tahoe Justice Court’s own rule is that in most cases you must appear in person, so the request has to be made and granted before the date. The Ninth Judicial District Court is stricter: a Zoom appearance there requires a formal written request and a signed order from the judge.
My office handles all of it. The office prepares and files the request, follows it until the court rules, sends you the link and the court’s instructions, and tells you in advance which dates the court will want you in the courtroom. If you hire FitzGerald Law, you can generally stay home, in California or wherever you live, and appear from there. Each request is still the judge’s decision, and some hearings are expected in person.
When a remote appearance is approved, treat it like a courtroom. Use a quiet room, a working camera and microphone, and dress as you would for court. Judges notice, and a clean remote appearance makes the next request easier to grant.
7. Felonies and gross misdemeanors: no plea in justice court
If the justice court cannot try the offense, you are not asked to plead there. The case is set for a preliminary hearing instead.
8. Discovery
Nevada discovery is mostly statutory. On the defense’s request, the prosecutor must allow inspection and copying of what the State has, or could find with due diligence, in three categories:
- your written or recorded statements, and those of the witnesses the State intends to call;
- the results and reports of examinations and scientific tests, such as a breath or blood result and its paperwork; and
- the documents and objects the State intends to use at trial.
The request has to be made within 30 days after arraignment, or later only with the court’s permission. The statute does not replace the State’s separate constitutional duty to disclose evidence favorable to the defense. Some of the evidence that matters most, such as casino or hotel surveillance video, belongs to third parties and is never in the State’s file unless someone asks for it.
9. Negotiation
Most cases resolve by agreement, and the agreement reflects what the defense has found. A plea negotiated after the suppression issues and the gaps in the evidence have been identified is a different negotiation from one done at the first setting. Some charges limit plea bargaining by statute; a Nevada prosecutor cannot trade away a DUI without a real problem in the proof (see DUI Defense in Stateline and Douglas County).
10. Motions to suppress
A motion to suppress asks the court to exclude evidence the government obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the Nevada Constitution, or a statute. This is where the State has to justify the stop, the detention, the search, the arrest, and any test, usually at a hearing with the officer on the stand.
11. Misdemeanor trial, usually to the judge
Most Nevada misdemeanors are tried to the judge, not a jury. The Sixth Amendment jury right does not reach “petty” offenses, and the U.S. Supreme Court has held that a first-offense Nevada DUI, with its six-month maximum, is petty.
Misdemeanor domestic battery is the exception. Because a conviction now costs the right to own a firearm, the Nevada Supreme Court held in 2019 that the offense is serious and a jury trial is required, and the statute now says the same. In justice court a case is generally tried to a jury only on a written demand filed at least 30 days before trial, so the demand gets filed on time.
If the defense has not asked for a delay and the case is not brought to trial within 60 days after arraignment, the justice court may dismiss the complaint. Asking for a continuance gives up that protection, so whether to ask for more time is a real decision.
12. The preliminary hearing (felonies and gross misdemeanors)
Unless you waive it, the judge must hear the evidence within 15 days, unless the time is extended for good cause. The State calls witnesses, and the defense may cross-examine them and present evidence. If the evidence shows probable cause that a crime was committed and that you committed it, you are held to answer in district court. If not, the judge must discharge you.
The State does not need much. The Nevada Supreme Court has said that probable cause at a preliminary hearing may rest on “slight, even marginal” evidence, because the hearing does not decide guilt. The question is not whether the State could win at trial, only whether it has shown enough to go forward.
That is why the hearing’s value usually lies elsewhere. It is often the first time the State’s witnesses answer the defense’s questions under oath, and what they say there can be used to test them at trial. Waiving the hearing can be part of a negotiated resolution, but a waiver should buy something.
13. The information and arraignment in district court
After a bindover or a waiver, the prosecutor has 15 days to file an information in district court, and the court may dismiss if nothing is filed in time. A felony can also be charged by grand jury indictment, which skips the preliminary hearing.
You are then arraigned in the Ninth Judicial District Court. A challenge to the probable-cause finding is made by a pretrial petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which must be filed within 21 days after the first appearance in district court, with extensions for good cause. The 60-day trial rule applies again, running from arraignment on the information or indictment.
14. Trial in district court
Felony and gross-misdemeanor trials are jury trials unless the defendant waives a jury in writing, with the court’s approval and the prosecutor’s consent. The State has to prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt.
15. Sentencing
After a plea or a verdict, the court sentences. In justice court, a misdemeanor sentence is often imposed the same day as the plea. In district court, a felony sentencing usually follows a presentence investigation by the Division of Parole and Probation. Whether probation is available, and on what terms, depends on the offense; see Probation Violations in Nevada.
16. Appeal
A justice-court conviction can be appealed to the district court within 10 days of the judgment. That is short enough that the decision is made before sentencing, not after. A district-court conviction is appealed to the Nevada appellate courts.
17. Sealing, later
Most Nevada convictions can eventually be sealed. The wait runs from release from custody or the end of probation or a suspended sentence, whichever is later:
- 1 year for most misdemeanors;
- 2 years for a misdemeanor battery, harassment, stalking, or violation of a protective order, a gross misdemeanor, or a category E felony;
- 5 years for a category B, C, or D felony;
- 7 years for a misdemeanor DUI or misdemeanor domestic battery;
- 10 years for a category A felony, a crime of violence, or residential burglary.
Some convictions can never be sealed, including felony DUI and crimes against children. A dismissal or an acquittal can be sealed at any time afterward, with no waiting period.
The DMV case in a DUI
A DUI arrest with a result of 0.08 or more, a detectable prohibited substance, or a refusal also starts an administrative revocation of your driving privilege, separate from the criminal case. If the officer served the revocation order and gave you a temporary license, that license is good for only 7 days, counting the day it was issued. If the order comes by mail, it takes effect 5 days after mailing. You may request one hearing, in writing, at any time while you are not eligible to drive, and a timely request brings an additional temporary license while the review is pending. When to make that request is a real decision with trade-offs; see Nevada DMV License Revocation After a DUI Arrest.
For a California driver, what California does with the Nevada case is a matter of California law, covered on How a Nevada DUI Follows You Home to California.
What my office handles at each step
Release. If you or a family member is still in custody, the office presses for the 48-hour release hearing, gathers what answers a flight-risk argument (work, family, a home address, a record of showing up), and asks the court to change any condition that cannot work, such as a requirement to stay in Nevada.
Arraignment and appearances. The office enters the not-guilty plea, files the Zoom requests, and sets any continuance in writing with the District Attorney’s Office, so that a routine date does not require a trip.
Discovery and evidence. The statutory discovery request goes out inside the 30 days. Preservation letters go to any casino, hotel, bar, or garage whose cameras may have recorded you, and subpoenas follow where they are needed. My office handles the records requests, the filings, and the court’s local rules, and tracks every deadline on this page.
Motions and negotiation. The suppression issues are identified before anything is negotiated, and problems with the State’s proof go to the prosecutor in writing.
The preliminary hearing. It is treated as the first cross-examination of the State’s witnesses, and waived only in exchange for something better.
Sentencing. If a case ends in a conviction, the sentence is planned around where you live, before the sentencing date.
Each deadline on this page runs from the arrest, the arraignment, or the judgment. None of them runs from the day you hire a lawyer.
Every deadline on this page is already running. Hire me now, and I’ll get to work. Call FitzGerald Law.