The Metropolitan Courthouse, 1945 South Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007, is a Los Angeles Superior Court building in the court's Central District. The court's own courthouse record lists criminal, family law and traffic divisions there, with criminal courtrooms assigned to misdemeanor and felony matters; your citation or release papers give the time and place to appear.
What cases does the Metropolitan Courthouse hear?
Metro hears criminal, family law and traffic matters, and its criminal courtrooms carry misdemeanor and felony assignments under department numbers the court has changed.
The court's own courthouse record lists several Metro courtrooms with misdemeanor assignments and one with felony and misdemeanor assignments, and it shows that those courtrooms were renumbered, so the department numbers in older documents, including the Local Rules' Central District table, no longer match the building. If your citation, notice to appear or release paperwork prints a department, that department is the one to go to.
The Central District covers far more ground than the courthouse's own neighborhood, and 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 a published street-by-street map of which arrests land at Metro rather than Foltz or another Central District courthouse. For the county's general venue rules, see the firm's Los Angeles County Criminal Court Guide and its Los Angeles County courthouse assignment guide.
How do you find your case and court date at Metro?
A name search on the court's website turns up a defendant's criminal case numbers for a per-search fee, with three ways to match the name.
A name search through the court's Search for Case by Defendant Name tool costs a guest $4.75 flat, win or lose, with a cheaper sliding scale for anyone who registers an account; this public-access charge exists under California Rule of Court 2.506 and Government Code section 68150(l), to help the court cover the cost of running the records system. Three matching styles narrow the hunt: Exact Match, Starts With, or Sounds Like. The felony side of the index reaches back to 1980; misdemeanors, to 1988 (occasionally 1983, where an old Municipal Court location had already automated its records). One privacy limit applies no matter how you search: California Rule of Court 2.507 withholds a defendant's date of birth from what the public sees. If the person is still in custody, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Inmate Information Center can confirm it from a name and date of birth; its page says records for bookings within the last 2 hours are not available yet.
What happens at arraignment, and what deadlines follow?
At arraignment, a judge states the charge, confirms your right to a lawyer, and decides release or bail; someone held in custody has a deadline for reaching that hearing.
California keeps one statewide clock running on custody: Penal Code section 825. Subdivision (a)(1) does not allow the court to simply wait; it says a person "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." Two wrinkles sit in subdivision (a)(2). First, a deadline that would land on a closed court carries forward: the law stretches the 48 hours "to include the duration of the next court session on the judicial day immediately following." Second, there is a named-day fix for Wednesday: an arrest that happens after that day's session has already let out gets pushed all the way to Friday, provided neither that Wednesday nor the Friday is a court holiday. Everything downstream runs on its own separate clock. A felony preliminary hearing, under Penal Code section 859b, is due within 10 court days of arraignment or plea, whichever is later, unless both sides waive that right or the court finds good cause to push it back. Penal Code section 1382 then marks the outer edge for trial itself: 60 days after arraignment on a felony information or indictment, or, in a misdemeanor, 30 days after arraignment or plea, whichever is later, for someone in custody and 45 days for everyone else, again subject to waiver or good cause.
Bail for a Metropolitan Courthouse case
Los Angeles County's 2026 bail schedules apply before the first hearing, and for most non-violent, non-serious offenses they set non-financial release terms rather than a dollar figure.
The 2026 felony bail schedule and 2026 misdemeanor bail schedule, each effective January 1, 2026, carry the court's Pre-Arraignment Release Protocol, and once a judge sees the case the judge's own terms control (Penal Code section 1269b). From there, In re Humphrey (2021) has the judge weigh ability to pay and nonfinancial conditions, and In re Kowalczyk (April 30, 2026) confines denial of bail in noncapital cases to the offenses in California Constitution article I, section 12(b) and (c) while holding that money bail "must generally be set in an amount that is reasonably attainable"; the Los Angeles County Criminal Court Guide and the firm's page on how California bail amounts are set go further.
Can you appear remotely at Metro?
Only through the court's own system, and state law keeps much of a felony case in person regardless of local permission.
Metro switched over on June 30, 2025: the court's own public notice from two weeks earlier put its criminal courtrooms on LACourtConnect, a Microsoft Teams-based system, and declared it would become the only way to appear remotely there once the switch took effect. Logging in means picking "Criminal" as the case type on the LACC welcome page, then searching by case number, calendar, or name (the firm's own LACourtConnect walkthrough covers the screen-by-screen steps). That local system, though, operates inside a statewide ceiling Penal Code section 977 sets, not the other way around: a misdemeanor defendant can generally let counsel stand in, and appear by video with their own consent, though a domestic violence defendant must come to arraignment and sentencing and a judge may require a DUI defendant to appear; a felony defendant has the opposite default, owing their physical presence at arraignment, the plea, the preliminary hearing, every moment evidence is taken at trial, and sentencing, though giving that up allows video at the earlier hearings; and no one appears remotely for a jury or court trial, nor a felony defendant at sentencing, outside postconviction relief proceedings and other cases the law provides for.
Getting into the Metropolitan Courthouse
The building opens 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday except court holidays, and its parking structure charges a fee, with meters on the surrounding streets.
Two Local Rules govern what happens the moment you step inside. Rule 2.17 lets only authorized court personnel photograph or record, and its reach goes past the courtroom itself into public areas, offices, entrances, and hallways. Rule 2.29 is the weapons rule: court security screens everyone, refusing that screening gets a person turned away at the door, and a litigant, whatever their license or profession, may not bring in a firearm or other weapon under any of the rule's narrow exceptions. Neither rule says anything about the clock, so for that, look to Rule 2.16 (ordinary sessions, 8:30 to noon and 1:30 to 4:30, unless the Presiding Judge orders otherwise) and the court's own courthouse locator, which lists the Criminal Clerk's Office on the 2nd floor, open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at (213) 745-3202.
Who defends and prosecutes a case at Metro?
Metro houses a Public Defender branch office, and the City Attorney prosecutes misdemeanors from inside Los Angeles while the District Attorney takes the rest.
The Los Angeles City Attorney, whose office the court's directory lists on Metro's 5th floor, has a Criminal Branch that its own site says "prosecutes criminal misdemeanors and infractions committed within the City limits," with "200+ prosecutors" in it. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's own jurisdiction FAQ puts its reach at every felony countywide plus the misdemeanors of every city "except" a specific group of ten, Los Angeles included, that each prosecute their own. Either way, a defendant unable to pay for counsel gets the same statewide floor: Penal Code section 987 puts the appointment decision in the court's hands the moment it is asked for at arraignment, and Government Code section 27706(a) keeps that representation "without expense to the defendant." The Los Angeles County Public Defender keeps a branch office at 1945 South Hill Street, Suite 200, inside the Metro building, phone (213) 744-4121; its FAQ tells callers simply to ring the branch tied to their own arraignment courthouse and ask for an attorney, with collect calls accepted from anyone already in custody. See the firm's guide to Los Angeles City Attorney pre-filing diversion for one route available in a City Attorney misdemeanor case.
What if you miss a court date tied to Metro?
Missed dates can mean a bench warrant, and a willful no-show after release can be a separate crime of its own.
After a release on bail or on the person's own recognizance, Penal Code section 978.5 lets a judge issue a bench warrant when the defendant fails to appear as required, without making one mandatory. A misdemeanor citation signed under Penal Code section 853.6, with no bail posted, works differently: Penal Code section 853.8 says the magistrate "shall issue" an arrest warrant no later than 20 days after the missed appearance, and Penal Code section 853.7 treats willfully breaking that written promise to appear as a separate misdemeanor. A traffic ticket written under the Vehicle Code follows its own rule: Vehicle Code section 40515 says the magistrate "may" issue a warrant after a missed appearance. Intent is what turns a missed date into a separate charge: willfully skipping court to dodge the process, after an own-recognizance release, is itself a misdemeanor or felony under Penal Code section 1320, mirroring whatever the original case was; the felony-bail version of the same willful dodge is covered on its own by Penal Code section 1320.5. Anyone who learns a warrant is out can start with what to do about a California bench warrant, the firm's answer on clearing one.
Talk to a lawyer about a Metropolitan Courthouse case
If you or a family member has a criminal case at the Metropolitan Courthouse, talk to a criminal defense 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
Does the Metropolitan Courthouse hear felony cases?
Yes. The court's own courthouse record lists a Metro courtroom assigned to felony as well as misdemeanor matters; your paperwork gives the time and place to appear.
Who prosecutes a misdemeanor at the Metropolitan Courthouse?
It depends on where the offense happened. A misdemeanor inside the City of Los Angeles goes to the City Attorney's Criminal Branch; one in an unincorporated area or in most other cities of the county goes to the District Attorney.
What if the 48 hours to see a judge run out while court is closed?
For a person held in custody, the 48 hours are counted excluding Sundays and holidays, and Penal Code section 825(a)(2) carries a deadline that falls while court is closed through the end of the next court session on the following court day. If the arrest came on a Wednesday after court let out, Friday is the outer limit, unless either day is a court holiday.
Can my lawyer appear at Metro instead of me?
Misdemeanor-only, yes in most situations, apart from the domestic violence and DUI exceptions the law carves out. Felony charges flip that default: Penal Code section 977 requires your physical presence at arraignment, the plea, the preliminary hearing, every evidentiary stage of trial, and sentencing; your waiver can move the earlier steps to video, but not the trial, and not felony sentencing except in postconviction relief proceedings or as otherwise provided by law.
Does the Metropolitan Courthouse hear traffic cases?
Yes. Traffic is one of the three divisions the court's record lists at Metro, and its Traffic Clerk's Office is on the 1st floor; your ticket says which courthouse has it.
Is the Metropolitan Courthouse the same building as the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center?
No. They are two separate Central District courthouses with their own addresses and departments; your paperwork names the one that applies to your case.