What is the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center?

The Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center is a Los Angeles Superior Court criminal courthouse at 210 West Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. It handles part of the Central District's felony and misdemeanor arraignments and holds the district's master calendar courts for felony and misdemeanor trials.

What does the Foltz Criminal Justice Center hear?

Foltz arraigns new felony and misdemeanor complaints in Departments 30, 40 and 48 and holds the Felony Master Calendar and Misdemeanor Trial Master Calendar.

Under the Local Rules, Rule 2.10, Foltz arraigns felony complaints in Department 30, and the court's own courthouse records also list criminal courtrooms at the Metropolitan Courthouse and the Central Arraignment Courthouse at 429 Bauchet Street. Misdemeanor arraignments at Foltz go to Department 40 for men in custody and Department 48 for women in custody and everyone out of custody. Rule 2.4 separately makes Department 100 at Foltz the Central District's Felony Master Calendar court and Department 56 its Misdemeanor Trial Master Calendar court, and Rule 2.10 sends expungement petitions in Foltz cases to Department 100 (felony) and Department 56 (misdemeanor).

Table: Central District criminal assignments under Local Rule 2.10 and Local Rule 2.4 that the court places at Foltz.

Local Rule 2.3(a)(3) sends a criminal complaint to whichever district courthouse "serves the city or unincorporated area where the offense is alleged to have occurred," without printing a street-by-street list of which cases land at Foltz rather than another Central District courthouse. Check the citation, notice to appear or release paperwork for the courthouse and department in your case. The firm's Los Angeles County courthouse assignment guide and its Los Angeles County Criminal Court Guide explain how venue works across the county.

How do you find your case and court date at Foltz?

The court's online name search finds a criminal case number for a public access fee, and its Criminal Case Summary service shows more about the case.

The Los Angeles Superior Court's Public Access Online Services, Search for Case by Defendant Name tool searches criminal cases by name. Its own pages describe three matching options, Exact Match, Starts With, and Sounds Like, and note that the felony index covers 1980 to the present while the misdemeanor index covers 1988 to the present (some misdemeanor records reach back to 1983). The court charges a public access fee for each name search: a flat $4.75 for a guest user, charged whether or not a matching case turns up, or a sliding monthly scale for registered users. Once you have the case number, the search page points to the court's Criminal Case Summary service for more about the case, and California Rule of Court 2.507 keeps a defendant's date of birth out of the court's online index.

What happens at your first court date (arraignment) at Foltz?

At the arraignment, the judge reads the charge, confirms the right to a lawyer, takes a plea and rules on release; a deadline applies to anyone held in custody.

Penal Code section 858 requires the judge to tell a defendant the charge and the right to counsel at every stage, and Penal Code section 859 requires giving a felony defendant a copy of the complaint and reasonable time to get a lawyer. If you are held in custody, Penal Code section 825(a)(1) requires that "the defendant shall in all cases be taken before the magistrate without unnecessary delay, and, in any event, within 48 hours after his or her arrest, excluding Sundays and holidays." Section 825(a)(2) extends that limit "to include the duration of the next court session on the judicial day immediately following" whenever the 48 hours would otherwise run out while court is not sitting, and the same subdivision adds a specific rule for an arrest on a Wednesday: once that day's court session has ended, the deadline becomes the following Friday, as long as neither day is a court holiday. This is a deadline for getting in front of a judge, never a charging deadline and never a promise of release.

After arraignment, Penal Code section 1382 sets statewide trial deadlines unless the defendant waives them or the court finds good cause: a felony information must be filed within 15 days of being held to answer, a felony trial within 60 days of arraignment on the information or indictment, and a misdemeanor trial within 30 days of arraignment or plea, whichever is later, if the defendant is in custody, or 45 days if not.

Before a judge sees the case, release follows Los Angeles County's 2026 felony bail schedule and 2026 misdemeanor bail schedule, both effective January 1, 2026, whose Pre-Arraignment Release Protocol uses non-financial conditions instead of a dollar amount for most non-violent, non-serious offenses; a judge can then set different terms (Penal Code section 1269b). In re Humphrey (2021) requires the judge to consider ability to pay and nonfinancial conditions, and under In re Kowalczyk (April 30, 2026) bail may be denied in noncapital cases only for the offenses in California Constitution article I, section 12(b) and (c), and money bail "must generally be set in an amount that is reasonably attainable"; the Los Angeles County Criminal Court Guide, the firm's bail amount guide and its page on the motion for bail reduction explain more.

Can you appear remotely at Foltz?

Sometimes, and only through the court's own remote system; state law also keeps several steps of a felony case in person.

The court's public notice of June 16, 2025 named Foltz among the courthouses whose criminal courtrooms moved to LACourtConnect, the court's Microsoft Teams-based remote platform, on June 30, 2025, after which it became "the exclusive platform for remote appearances" there. To check in, open the LACourtConnect welcome page, select the criminal litigation type, and look up the hearing by case number, calendar, or name; the firm's LACourtConnect guide walks through the steps. State law sets its own floor underneath that local process. Under Penal Code section 977, a misdemeanor defendant may generally appear through counsel or, with their agreement, remotely, but must attend arraignment and sentencing in a domestic violence case, and a judge may order a DUI defendant to attend. A felony defendant must be physically present at arraignment, the plea, the preliminary hearing, trial testimony, and sentencing unless they waive that right to appear remotely; no defendant may appear remotely for a jury or court trial, nor a felony defendant at sentencing, except for postconviction relief proceedings and as otherwise provided by law.

Getting into the Foltz Criminal Justice Center

The courthouse is open 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays except court holidays, and everyone who enters is screened for weapons first.

Local Rule 2.29 requires every person entering a Los Angeles Superior Court building to be screened for weapons and other prohibited items by court security personnel, and refusal to comply is grounds for being refused entry; a firearm or other weapon is barred except in narrow, specifically exempted circumstances, and never for a litigant. The court's own Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center page lists the Clerk's Office hours as 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday except court holidays, and says pay lots are available throughout the downtown area; check it before you go, since posted hours can change. Court sessions generally run 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. under Local Rule 2.16, though the Presiding Judge can vary that schedule.

Who defends and prosecutes a case at Foltz?

The Los Angeles County Public Defender's headquarters sits inside Foltz itself; the District Attorney prosecutes felonies, and the city where the offense happened decides who prosecutes a misdemeanor.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, Penal Code section 987 requires the court to appoint one once you tell the judge at arraignment that you want one, and Government Code section 27706(a) requires the Public Defender to represent that person "without expense to the defendant." The Public Defender's own FAQ says you do not have to wait for your first court appearance to talk to a Deputy Public Defender: you can "call the Public Defender's Office at the courthouse where you have been told to appear for arraignment and ask to speak to an attorney," and the office "will accept a collect call" from someone in custody. If the Public Defender has a conflict of interest, its FAQ says the county's Alternate Public Defender, or else a court-appointed private attorney, represents the person.

Table: Public Defender and District Attorney headquarters, from each office's own website.

The District Attorney's own FAQ says it "prosecutes felony crimes throughout Los Angeles County and misdemeanor crimes in unincorporated areas of the county and in all cities except" ten named cities, Los Angeles among them; inside those ten, the city's own prosecutor, in Los Angeles the City Attorney's Criminal Branch, handles misdemeanors instead.

What if you miss a court date tied to Foltz?

Missing a required court date can lead to a bench warrant and, if the failure to appear was willful, a new charge.

Penal Code section 978.5 allows a bench warrant when a defendant fails to appear as the law requires, including after release on a signed citation, bail, or their own recognizance. A person released on their own recognizance who willfully fails to appear in order to evade the court's process is guilty of a misdemeanor, or a felony if the underlying case was a felony, under Penal Code section 1320; willfully doing the same after release on bail in a felony case is a felony under Penal Code section 1320.5. The 14-day period in both statutes governs when that intent to evade is presumed or may be found, not a grace period for turning up late. For a warrant that has already issued, see what to do about a California bench warrant.

Talk to a lawyer about a Foltz case

If you or someone you know has a criminal case at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, talk to a lawyer before the court date on your paperwork. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley offers a free, confidential consultation, available 24 hours a day, with payment plans and service in Spanish. Call (800) 755-5174 or request a free consultation online.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center the only Central District courthouse that arraigns criminal cases?

No. Under the Local Rules the Metropolitan Courthouse also arraigns Central District cases, and the court's own records list criminal courtrooms at the Central Arraignment Courthouse, 429 Bauchet Street. Your citation or release paperwork says which one applies to your case.

How much does a name search of a Foltz case cost online?

The court's online fee schedule sets a flat $4.75 per name search for a guest user, charged whether or not the search finds a matching case. Registered users pay $1.00 each for their first 10 searches in a month.

What happens if my 48-hour deadline falls on a day the court is closed?

For a person held in custody, the 48 hours exclude Sundays and holidays, and Penal Code section 825(a)(2) extends them through the end of the next court session on the following court day. For an arrest on a Wednesday after that day's session ends, the deadline becomes the following Friday, as long as neither day is a court holiday.

Can my lawyer appear at Foltz instead of me?

It depends on the charge. In a misdemeanor-only case you may generally appear through counsel, with limited exceptions for domestic violence and DUI charges. In a felony case Penal Code section 977 requires you to be physically present at arraignment, the plea, the preliminary hearing, trial testimony and sentencing; a waiver allows remote appearance at some of those steps, never at trial, and not at felony sentencing except for postconviction relief or as otherwise provided by law.

Which Public Defender number do I call about a Foltz case?

The court's own directory for the Foltz building lists the Public Defender's Office on the 19th floor at (213) 974-2811 for felony cases and (213) 974-3085 for misdemeanor cases.

Does the Los Angeles County District Attorney prosecute every case filed at Foltz?

No. The District Attorney's own FAQ says it prosecutes felonies countywide and misdemeanors in unincorporated areas and most cities, but not misdemeanors in ten listed cities; in Los Angeles, the City Attorney's Criminal Branch prosecutes them.