What it is
Not every charge ends at the booking desk. If you plead not guilty, if you are charged with a felony, or if you want to challenge a ticket an officer gave you at the roadside, the matter goes to the Superior Court of San Andreas. The court is played by characters, judges, prosecutors and attorneys, and it sits on the forum in the Superior Court of San Andreas section, with hearings held in game where both sides can make it and on the forum where they cannot.
Three kinds of matter reach it:
Matter | How it starts | Where it is heard |
|---|---|---|
Infraction (a ticket) | You file a petition within 30 days of the ticket | Infractions Division |
Misdemeanour or felony, not guilty plea | Your plea at the booking desk, with your forum name | Criminal Division |
A civil dispute between characters or with a business | A civil filing at the Front Desk | Civil Division |
Before you start
You need a forum account with the same name you give at the plea panel; the court contacts you through it. Gather what you have: the time and place, the officer's name from the charge sheet, any screenshots or clips, and the names of witnesses. Read the charge in the Penal Code or the Vehicular Code so you know what the officer has to show. You may be represented by an attorney character; the legal firms advertise on the forum and in the classifieds.
Steps
- Enter the plea
At the plea panel after booking, choose Not guilty and type your forum name in the box. A misdemeanour holds you for the maximum of the sentence range while the case is pending; if the court finds for you, you are released early. A felony has no bail and holds you in custody until the court hears the case. Guilty serves the minimum and ends the matter. Read Custody and the law before you decide; for a short misdemeanour, a guilty plea or bail is often the better call.
- Wait for the court to make contact
Your plea, forum name and the sentence range are written into the arrest report. The Criminal Division opens the case and a clerk or the judge contacts you on the forum with the next step: usually a date for a hearing in game, or a request for your written account. Your sentence clock does not run while you are held for court.
- Challenge a ticket instead
For an infraction, go to the Front Desk section of the court on the forum and copy the petition template: NAME v. City (or County) of Los Santos, the date of the ticket, each infraction listed, and a box for Hearing or Summary Review. Post it in the Infractions Division within 30 days. Any payment deadline stops while the petition is open.
- Choose summary review or a hearing
Summary review: the judge reads the officer's evidence and yours and decides without argument. Hearing: the court schedules a date and both you and the issuing officer must attend; a side that does not appear loses by default. The judge gives an opinion on the evidence first, then each side argues, then witnesses if the court allows them, then the verdict. Evidence not in the petition may be refused at a hearing as unfair surprise, so put it all in.
- Attend the hearing
Turn up in game at the time given, dressed and in character; a courtroom hearing is a scene like any other. If the game is not possible for either side, the hearing is roleplayed on the forum instead. There is no out of character penalty for missing a date, only the in character consequence of losing.
- Receive the verdict
Infractions end one of three ways: upheld (the ticket stands), dismissed (it does not), or a change of fine (it stands at a lower amount). A criminal case ends in a finding of guilty or not guilty; a not guilty finding releases you through the court release at the station, and the arrest report is annotated with the outcome. The verdict is final unless appealed to a higher court, and either side may appeal.
What the court can and cannot do
The court decides the case in front of it. It can dismiss charges, order a release, reduce or raise a fine within the law, and order money or property between characters in a civil case. It cannot undo out of character decisions: a report outcome, a rule punishment or a ban is a staff matter for a ticket or an appeal, never for the court.
The judges are the Superior Court characters and the courts are open: the Declaration of Rights in the Constitution says the writings of public bodies are open to scrutiny, and the court's filings on the forum are public unless sealed.
If it goes wrong
Nobody has contacted you. Check the forum name you gave matches your forum account exactly, then post a short thread at the Front Desk quoting your character name and the date of the booking. The Criminal Division is played by people with their own hours; give it a day or two before chasing.
You were released before the hearing. An officer with full MDC access can release a held prisoner early; the case does not close by itself. Watch the forum thread for the date.
You lost and think the judge was wrong. Appeal. The higher court reads the record; it does not rehear the evidence, so say what the judge got wrong in law.
Related commands
/lawsEveryoneOpen the laws panel.
/criminalrecordEveryoneView your own criminal record.
/bailEveryonePay bail for yourself or for a prisoner at the front desk
/visitEveryoneRequest a visit with a prisoner from the front desk
Worked example
Marko Kovac is booked at Mission Row for PC 2-04 Assault, count two, after a fight outside the Tequi-la-la that he says the other man started. The plea panel offers guilty (2 months), not guilty, no contest and a bail button reading $2,000. He has $2,400.
He pleads not guilty and types his forum name, MarkoK. The panel replies: "Not guilty plea entered. You are held for about 6 months pending court." His HUD strip reads Held for court. The clock does not move.
Marko Kovac says: Six months. I can pay the two and walk.
Officer J. Hale says: You can. Bail's not a verdict, though. Pay it and the case still comes up.
He pays the bail from the panel, is released at the front desk with his phone and wallet, and that night finds a thread on the forum from the Criminal Division: The State v. Marko Kovac, hearing Thursday 20:00 at the Rockford Hills courthouse, bring witnesses. He messages Dana Okoye, the barmaid who saw the first punch.
Thursday. Judge Niijima reads the officer's report and the two statements, gives her opinion that the report does not say who struck first, and invites argument. Hale says Marko was the one still swinging when the unit arrived. Dana says the other man threw a bottle. The court asks two questions, then finds Marko not guilty on count two and guilty of a single count of battery, fine $600, time served.
The verdict goes on the thread that night, and Hale amends the report from the MDC: one count of battery, fine paid, the assault struck out.
See also
Custody and the law for the plea panel, court holds and bail
Laws for every code the court applies
Factions and the MDC for the police side of the same case