Under CPL 110, prior to the commencement of a criminal action, a person may be compelled to appear in the LCC for arraignment upon an accusatory instrument to be filed by which document?

• A. Warrant without an arrest
• B. Appearance ticket
• C. Indictment
• D. Grand jury

Answer: (B)

In this pre-charge stage, the device that brings a person to court for arraignment without an arrest is an appearance ticket. A police officer issues this written notice directing the individual to appear in the Local Criminal Court to answer to charges on an accusatory instrument that will be filed with the court. It allows arraignment to proceed before the formal charging document is filed and without needing to arrest the person.

Warrants without arrest would still involve a formal command to appear after an arrest or through a separate process; indictments and grand juries come into play after a charging decision has been made and the action has begun, not for an early arraignment on a yet-to-be-filed charge.