The arrest
It starts with an arrest, on the scene or on a warrant. You are booked, a bond is set, and you are released with a court date or held until the next business day.
The arrest page explains what happens and why staying silent matters. If it is a family violence arrest, things move faster, with court the next business day.
The arraignment
Your first court date is the arraignment, where the judge states the charges, sets your release conditions, and in a family violence case issues a protective order. It is not a trial and rarely resolves anything; you get a new date.
The arraignment page and, for family violence cases, the protective orders page explain this appearance in detail.
The pretrial period
Most of a criminal case happens here, over a series of court dates spaced weeks apart. Your attorney gets the police reports and evidence, talks with the prosecutor, and works out where the case is going. This is when a diversionary program is applied for, when weaknesses in the state's case are raised, and when most cases are quietly resolved.
It can take several months and several court dates, and you usually have to appear at each one. Patience is part of it; a case moving slowly is normal and often works in your favor. Practice varies a little from courthouse to courthouse, and the court pages describe how each Connecticut court runs.
How cases end
A Connecticut criminal case usually ends one of a few ways. Many first-time cases end in a diversionary program: you complete classes or supervision and the charge is dismissed. Others end in a negotiated plea, where you agree to plead to a particular charge for an agreed outcome. Some are dismissed or nolled when the state cannot or decides not to proceed. Only a small share go to trial. Your attorney's job through the pretrial period is to steer toward the most favorable available ending for your situation.
Diversion, plea, or trial
A diversionary program leaves you with no conviction and an eventual erased record, which is why it is the goal in most first-offense cases.
The diversionary programs page lists them. A plea is a resolution you and the state agree on, often to a lesser charge, and it is a conviction unless the plea is into a program. A trial is your right, and sometimes the correct choice, but it is the exception, not the rule. Which path fits depends on the strength of the evidence, your record, and what you have to lose, and it is the central strategic question your attorney helps you answer.
Which program applies depends on the charge. See DUI, domestic violence and family violence, assault, drug possession, and larceny and shoplifting.
After the case
If your case ended without a conviction, the record is erased. If you were convicted, you serve whatever the sentence requires, and years later a low-level conviction may be erased under the Clean Slate law or cleared by a pardon.
The record erasure page explains what clears and when.
How long does it take
There is no fixed answer, but months is normal, not weeks, and a serious case can take a year or more. A case that seems stalled is usually just moving at the ordinary pace of the court. The worst thing you can do is miss a court date; that creates a new charge and a warrant. Show up to every date, do what your attorney says, and let the process work.