(a)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), 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.
(2)When the 48 hours prescribed by paragraph (1) expire at a time when the court in which the magistrate is sitting is not in session, that time shall be extended to include the duration of the next court session on the judicial day
immediately following. If the 48-hour period expires at a time when the court in which the magistrate is sitting is in session, the arraignment may take place at any time during that session. However, when the defendant’s arrest occurs on a Wednesday after the conclusion of the day’s court session, and if the Wednesday is not a court holiday, the defendant shall be taken before the magistrate not later than the following Friday, if the Friday is not a court holiday.
(b)After the arrest, any attorney at law entitled to practice in the courts of record of California, may, at the request of the prisoner or any relative of the prisoner, visit the prisoner. Any officer having charge of the prisoner who willfully refuses or neglects to allow that attorney to visit a prisoner is guilty of a misdemeanor. Any officer having a prisoner in charge, who refuses to allow the attorney to visit the prisoner when proper application is made, shall forfeit and
pay to the party aggrieved the sum of five hundred dollars ($500), to be recovered by action in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
64
cases (
8 in the last 5 years), 1944–2025 · leading case:
Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568 (1961).
Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568 (1961).
· cites it 6× “See Cal. Penal Code, § 825 (without unnecessary delay; two-day maximum); Mo.”
People v. Thompson, 611 P.2d 883 (Cal. 1980).
· cites it 4× “(Pen. Code, § 825.) The additional argument is advanced that the prosecution improperly used the confession during appellant's cross-examination.”
Cnty. of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44 (1991).
· cites it 2× “Under County policy, which tracks closely the provisions of Cal. Penal Code Ann. § 825 (West 1985), arraignments must be conducted without unnecessary delay and, in any event, within two days of arrest.”
People v. Pettingill, 578 P.2d 108 (Cal. 1978).
· cites it 2× “) (Pen. Code, § 825.) If the arrest, as here, is without a warrant, "the person arrested, if not otherwise released, shall, without unnecessary delay, be taken before the nearest or most accessible magistrate in the county in which the offense is triable, and a complaint stating…”
Youngblood v. Gates, 200 Cal. App. 3d 1302 (Cal. Ct. App. 1988).
· cites it 6× “) (2b) There are no "compelling countervailing considerations" in the instant case, and, in light of settled case authority on the subject of prearraignment delay, Penal Code section 825 must be interpreted to avoid expansion of custodial time.”
Van Atta v. Scott, 613 P.2d 210 (Cal. 1980).
· cites it 2× “(Pen. Code, § 825.) Bail may be reset by the court at that time for those detainees still in custody.”
People v. Wilson, 383 P.2d 452 (Cal. 1963).
· cites it 2× “" Penal Code section 825 is equally emphatic in declaring that "The defendant must in all cases be taken before the magistrate without unnecessary delay, and, in any event, within two days after his arrest.”
Rogers v. Superior Court, 291 P.2d 929 (Cal. 1955).
· cites it 2× “Moreover, the purpose being as heretofore stated the Legislature has decided by making the requirement (Pen. Code, § 825) that admissions so obtained are necessarily a product of the illegal detention and the coercion inherent therein.”
Gant v. Cnty. of Los Angeles, 765 F. Supp. 2d 1238 (C.D. Cal. 2011).
· cites it 3× “California Penal Code section 825 likewise does not immunize the Torrance City Defendants from liability for false imprisonment.”
People v. Houston, 724 P.2d 1166 (Cal. 1986).
· cites it 2× “, Pen. Code, § 825 [$500 damages to a prisoner prevented access to an attorney who seeks to visit with the prisoner "at the request of the prisoner or any relative of such prisoner .”
Jones v. Superior Court, 478 P.2d 10 (Cal. 1970).
· cites it 2× “For example, Penal Code sections 799-801 impose limitations on the time for commencing criminal actions; Penal Code section 825 imposes a time limit within which a defendant must be taken before a magistrate; Penal Code section 739 imposes a time limit within which an…”
In Re Walker, 518 P.2d 1129 (Cal. 1974).
· cites it 2× “" [7] It appears from Officer Wynn's testimony that he hit petitioner twice on the head with a gun butt, but the testimony of Wynn and the other officers does not show that petitioner was hit "so hard that the handle of the gun was broken.”
— Cal. Penal Code § 825(a) — 1 case
Gant v. Cnty. of Los Angeles, 765 F. Supp. 2d 1238 (C.D. Cal. 2011).
“California Penal Code section 825 likewise does not immunize the Torrance City Defendants from liability for false imprisonment.”
— Cal. Penal Code § 825(a)(1) — 1 case
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