A Riverside County criminal case is filed at one of five courthouses based on the zip code where the offense allegedly happened. If you are held in custody, you must see a judge within 48 hours, excluding Sundays and holidays. Bail starts from the court's countywide schedule, and a felony preliminary hearing is due within 10 court days of arraignment unless waived or delayed for good cause.
Which courthouse hears your case
Riverside Superior Court files felony and misdemeanor cases at one of five courthouses under Local Rule 4001 and the presiding judge's administrative order on where to file criminal documents, based on the zip code where the offense allegedly occurred, not where you live: the Hall of Justice in Riverside, the Banning Justice Center, the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, the Larson Justice Center in Indio, and the Blythe Courthouse. The order lists every city and community by courthouse, and the case-number prefix on your paperwork usually confirms the branch once a case is filed. Infraction tickets follow a separate list that includes the Corona and Moreno Valley courthouses, and habeas corpus petitions are filed by region, so confirm the right venue for anything beyond an ordinary felony or misdemeanor filing with the clerk or your attorney. See the firm's page on which Riverside County courthouse hears your case for the full city-by-courthouse list and its exceptions.
What happens at arraignment, and how fast
If you are arrested and held in custody, Penal Code section 825(a)(1) requires that you be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay, and in any event within 48 hours of the arrest, excluding Sundays and holidays. At arraignment, the charges are read to you and you are asked how you plead (Penal Code section 988), the question of counsel is addressed, and the court sets or reviews bail and custody status. If you appear without a lawyer and cannot afford one, the court must assign counsel, such as the public defender, at that hearing (Penal Code section 987(a)), and you or your attorney can ask the court for time to review the charges first. If you were cited and released rather than held, your citation or notice to appear already shows the date and courthouse where you are expected to appear, and missing that date can lead to a warrant for your arrest (Penal Code section 853.8) and, if the failure was willful, a separate misdemeanor charge (section 853.7), so confirm it before the hearing, not after. A misdemeanor DUI arrest moves through the same misdemeanor arraignment and trial deadlines described on this page; the firm's Riverside DUI page covers the DUI-specific issues.
How bail is set in Riverside County
Under Penal Code section 1269b(c), the judges in each county adopt a countywide bail schedule, and Riverside Superior Court's current felony and misdemeanor bail schedule places every offense in one of four release categories: two that require only a signed promise to appear, and two that carry a scheduled bail amount. See the firm's page on Riverside County's bail schedule for how its current release categories work and what can take a cite-and-release option off the table. When a judge sets, reduces, or denies bail directly, Penal Code section 1275 directs the court to weigh protection of the public first, then the seriousness of the offense, your criminal record, and the likelihood you will appear, along with specific factors like an alleged weapon or threats against a victim or witness. Before setting bail below the county schedule for a serious or violent felony, the court must state its reasons for finding unusual circumstances on the record.
Felony timelines: the preliminary hearing and trial deadlines
Penal Code section 859b sets the preliminary hearing within 10 court days of arraignment or plea, whichever is later, unless both sides waive that time or good cause for a continuance is found. If you have stayed in custody for 10 court days solely on that complaint, the magistrate must dismiss it if the hearing is set or continued beyond that window, unless you personally waive the time or the prosecution shows good cause, and a continuance beyond 10 court days generally requires your release unless a listed exception applies. Whether or not you are in custody, the complaint must be dismissed if the hearing is set or continued more than 60 days after arraignment or plea, unless you personally waive that time. According to the Riverside County District Attorney's overview of the court process, a felony settlement conference is set after arraignment, where the attorneys exchange discovery and try to resolve the case before a preliminary hearing date is set; misdemeanor cases get a trial readiness conference instead. Once a case moves forward on an information, Penal Code section 1382 generally requires a felony trial within 60 days of arraignment on that information, and a misdemeanor trial within 30 days if you were in custody at arraignment or plea, or 45 days if you were not, unless you waive that time.
Diversion and collaborative court options
Depending on the charge, Riverside offers separate pretrial and post-conviction tracks rather than one universal program. A qualifying drug charge may lead to pretrial diversion, which the court grants at a hearing under Penal Code section 1000.2 for a period of 12 to 18 months; Riverside's referral order then sets enrollment, proof-of-completion, and dismissal hearings. See the firm's page on Riverside County's PC 1000 referral for what to check on that order. Veterans Court, military diversion under Penal Code section 1001.80, and Mental Health Court intake are three further, separate routes, each with its own forms and entry steps; see the firm's page on Riverside County's collaborative courts for how each one actually works. None of these opens automatically when a case is filed, so ask specifically whether you qualify, and keep in mind that eligibility usually depends on the exact charge and your record, not just a request. A case can also move between tracks, for example from a standard criminal calendar into a collaborative court, once the right paperwork and a judge's referral are in place.
What to bring and do now
Bring your citation, notice to appear, or any other paperwork that already shows a courthouse and case number, and do not guess at your court date from memory. If you have no paperwork yet, use the city or community where the incident happened, not where you live, to identify the likely branch, then confirm it with the clerk's office or your attorney before you travel. If you were arrested somewhere else in California and transferred, or if you already have another open case in a different Riverside County branch, mention that at your first appearance, since Local Rule 4001 lets a case be heard in another courthouse in the same region, or for good cause in another region. For help with a Riverside County charge, see the Law Offices of David S. Chesley's Riverside criminal defense page.