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The Beginning of the Formal Felony Process in Oklahoma Law

The formal felony process begins with the filing of the information. The information is a written allegation filed by the District Attorney's Office. (The formal process can also begin with an Indictment from a grand jury, but this is very unusual for individuals charged with state felonies.) If the defendant has not been previously arrested on "probable cause" an arrest warrant will be issued for the defendant and a bond will be set. No notice will be given to a defendant that a warrant has been issued for their arrest. Often the first notice that a defendant receives that a warrant has been issued for his or her arrest is when law enforcement officials arrest them.

If you are trying to find out if someone has been arrested you can call the jail or search the jail's website if the jail has one. To find out if someone is in David L. Moss, the Tulsa County Jail, you can search the Tulsa County Jail or call 918-596-8900. You can call thr Rogers County Jail at 918 342-9700

Frequently individuals will know that they are being investigated for a crime and that criminal charges are a possibility. To check charges have been filed against an individual you can search on the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network (OSCN). Search the "Court Dockets" screen for the county that you believe charges have been filed in by entering the first and last name of the individual you are checking to see if charges have been filed on behalf of. If the county you are searching for does not appear on OSCN than search ODCR.

If an individual was arrested on "probable cause" than that idividual will be given a court date to appear in court. If charges are not filed by the district attorney's office than that individual will be released from jail or if they have bonded out of jail their bond will be exonerated. (This usually does not occur on the defendant's first appearance in court.)

Once the district attorney's office files an information the defendant's case will be given a felony case number. An example of a felony case number is CF-2017-1284. All felony case numbers began with “CF”. The next part of the case number is the year that the Felony was filed in, “2017”. The last part of the number “1284” means that this is the 1284th felony case filed in that county in the year 2017.

The information gives a defendant notice of the charges they must defend. The information also contains a list of witnesses the state may call against the defendant. The information may be amended throught the criminal process either by choice of the district attorney or by the order of the Court. Another important aspect of the information is that it may include a "second page" which list prior convictions that the state is alleging that a defendant has. These prior convictions are important because they will effect the sentencing ranges for the crimes the defendant is accussed of.

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