A.
"Arraignment" is the bringing of a defendant before the Tribal Court to inform the defendant of the charges, advise the defendant of his or her rights, and take the defendant's plea. At arraignment, the Tribal Court will also set conditions of pretrial release as appropriate in accordance with this chapter.
B.
Arraignment will be held in open Tribal Court without unnecessary delay after the defendant is taken into custody, and in no instance will arraignment be later than 72 hours after arrest. If the defendant is not in custody, the arraignment must take place within 14 days.
C.
If the arrest was without a warrant, the Tribal Court Judge must determine during arraignment whether there is probable cause to believe that an offense against tribal law has been committed by the defendant.
D.
Before a defendant is required to plead to any criminal charges, the Tribal Court Judge must:
(1)
Read to the defendant, and provide the defendant with a copy of, the complaint and determine that the defendant understands the complaint and the section of the Tribe's Criminal Code he or she is charged with violating, including the maximum authorized penalty; and
(2)
Advise the defendant that he/she has the right to:
E.
At arraignment, the Tribal Court Judge will call upon the defendant to plead to the charge and proceed as follows:
(2)
If the defendant pleads "guilty" or "no contest" to the charge, the Tribal Court Judge will accept the plea only if the Tribal Court Judge is satisfied that the plea is made voluntarily and the defendant understands the consequences of the plea, including the rights he or she is waiving by the plea. In addition, for a plea of no contest, the Tribal Court Judge must be satisfied upon a reading of the police report that there is an actual basis for accepting the plea. The Tribal Court Judge may then impose sentence or defer sentencing for a reasonable time not to exceed 30 days in order to obtain any information the Tribal Court Judge deems necessary for the imposition of a just sentence. The defendant must be afforded an opportunity to be heard by the Tribal Court prior to sentencing.
(3)
If the defendant refuses to offer a plea, the Tribal Court Judge must enter a plea of "not guilty" on his/her behalf.