California Criminal Motion Deadlines

Not legal advice. Core CCP rules checked against Westlaw (via CoCounsel legal research) on July 24, 2026. County local rules are paraphrased summaries; individual department standing orders are NOT included. Verify every date against the operative code sections and your court’s rules before relying on it.

Criminal motion practice does not run on CCP § 1005. It runs on Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.111(a): 10 court days’ notice, opposition 5 court days, reply 2 court days — plus a fourth deadline civil practice has no analogue for, proof of service of the moving papers filed at least 5 court days before the hearing.

Why CCP § 1005 does not apply

Section 1005’s catch-all reaches only proceedings “under this code” (CCP § 1005, subd. (a)(13)), it sits in Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure titled “Of Civil Actions,” and the Legislature wrote “in a civil action” into subdivision (a)(6) — the one entry that could otherwise have reached criminal cases. Penal Code § 1102 imports civil evidence rules into criminal actions. Nothing does the same for civil motion procedure.

The 2020 Pitchess trap

Evidence Code § 1043 used to route criminal Pitchess motions through § 1005(b)’s 16 court days. Assembly Bill 1600, operative January 1, 2020, split the section: civil Pitchess still gets 16 court days under Evid. Code, § 1043(a)(1), but criminal Pitchess now gets 10 / 5 / 2 under subdivision (a)(2) — with its own proof-of-service deadline five court days before the hearing. Every pre-2020 form and treatise says 16. This is the single most likely wrong number in the area.

Local rules bind here, unlike civil

Rule 3.20(a) voids local rules on civil motions, which is why a civil calculator can ship one statewide number. Rule 3.20(b)(2) exempts “the Penal Code and all other criminal proceedings” from that preemption, so local criminal rules are not void on preemption grounds. That is the limit of what rule 3.20 establishes: a local rule still may not conflict with a statute or a Judicial Council rule, and rule 4.111(a)’s “unless otherwise ordered” clause permits a case-specific order, not a blanket departmental override. Always check the local rule and the department.

No mail extension

Rule 4.111 has no service-extension provision, and Pen. Code, § 1538.5 subdivisions (f)(2) and (i) require personal service. Code of Civil Procedure § 1013 does not extend a criminal deadline absent statutory language incorporating it. This calculator adds nothing for the method of service, and offers no mail option.

Criminal motion deadline calculator

Motion

Attacks the holding order. Governed by rule 4.111 for notice, but § 1510 sets the outside deadline to bring it at all.

Which side are you on?

Confidence in this entry: medium

Hearing date

Works backward under rule 4.111 — 10 / 5 / 2 court days

Motions covered

Challenges to the charge

Motion	Timing	Confidence
Motion to set aside the information or indictment (§ 995) Pen. Code, § 995	Rule 4.111 default — 10 / 5 / 2 court days	medium
Deadline to preserve pretrial writ review of a § 995 or § 1538.5 denial (§ 1510) Pen. Code, § 1510	60 calendar days from arraignment (on the complaint for a misdemeanor, on the information or indictment for a felony)	medium
Motion to recuse the district attorney (§ 1424) Pen. Code, § 1424(a)(1)	10 court days’ notice — this statute displaces the rule 4.111 default	medium

Suppression and police records

Motion	Timing	Confidence
Motion to suppress at the preliminary hearing (§ 1538.5(f)) Pen. Code, § 1538.5(f)(2)	5 court days’ notice — this statute displaces the rule 4.111 default	medium
Special suppression hearing in superior court (§ 1538.5(i)) Pen. Code, § 1538.5(i)	10 court days after notice to the People	medium
Pitchess motion — criminal (Evid. Code § 1043(a)(2)) Evid. Code, § 1043(a)(2)	10 court days’ notice — this statute displaces the rule 4.111 default	high

Reciprocal discovery

Motion	Timing	Confidence
Motion to compel criminal discovery (§ 1054.5(b)) Pen. Code, § 1054.5(b)	15 calendar days from the informal request for discovery	medium
Reciprocal discovery disclosure deadline (§ 1054.7) Pen. Code, § 1054.7	30 calendar days from trial (counted BACKWARD)	high

Trial setting and continuances

Motion	Timing	Confidence
Motion to continue (§ 1050(b)) Pen. Code, § 1050(b)	2 court days’ notice — this statute displaces the rule 4.111 default	high
Time to prepare for trial (§ 1049) Pen. Code, § 1049	5 calendar days from entry of the plea	low
Information after a holding order (CRC 4.110) Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.110(1), (3)	15 calendar days from the holding order	medium

Questions the review left open

These values were verified by an attorney on July 29, 2026. Verified means each period, citation, and service rule was checked — not that every question is settled. These are not, and the calculator states which way it resolves each:

Calendar or court days for Pen. Code § 1510 (45/60), rule 4.110 (15 and 7), and Pen. Code § 1054.5(b) (15). No authority construes any of them. Iverson v. Superior Court (1985) 167 Cal.App.3d 544 supplies the default (calendar unless the Legislature says court days). This engine applies Iverson and cites it.
Whether service by mail satisfies “notice to the people” under § 1538.5(i). Unresolved on the face of the statute. If the calculator assumes mail is sufficient and counts 10 court days from the mailing date, that assumption must be surfaced to the user.
Whether to model the rule 4.111 default at all for motions governed by a specific statute, given People v. Seigler (2025) 116 Cal.App.5th 596. Options: keep 4.111 as a fallback with a warning, or refuse to produce a number where a statute may control.
Bernstein v. Superior Court, 45 Cal.2d 774 — sources returned both 1955 and 1956. Confirm the year before citing.
The AB 1600 chapter number.

What this does not cover

Post-conviction motions (§§ 1172.6 [formerly § 1170.95], 1473.7, 1170.18, 1172.1 [formerly § 1170.03, renumbered eff. June 30, 2022, Stats. 2022, ch. 58 (A.B. 200), § 9]) and expungement (§§ 1203.4, 1203.41, 1203.42). Rule 4.111 governs “pretrial motions” by its title and its text, and sits in Title 4, Division 2, Chapter 1 (Pretrial Proceedings). It supplies no period for post-conviction motions. Post-conviction timing is governed by the specific statute creating the remedy. This calculator does not model post-conviction motions.
Speedy-trial and custody clocks (§§ 825, 859b, 1381, 1382). These are not motion deadlines and several have unresolved unit questions.
Appeal deadlines and the § 1237.5 certificate of probable cause. Rule 8.308: 60 days after rendition of judgment or the making of the order appealed from (felony). Rule 8.853: 30 days (misdemeanor, appellate division).
Marsden (People v. Marsden (1970) 2 Cal.3d 118), Faretta (Faretta v. California (1975) 422 U.S. 806), and § 1018 motions to withdraw a plea.
Juvenile delinquency. Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.10 provides only that “The Civil Rules apply to all civil cases in the superior courts, including general civil, family, juvenile, and probate cases.” A Welf. & Inst. Code § 602 delinquency proceeding is not a civil case, and rule 3.20(b)(2) separately exempts Welfare and Institutions Code proceedings. Rule 3.10 therefore does not supply the answer. The open question is instead whether a § 602 proceeding is a “criminal action” within Evid. Code § 1043(a)(2). Before AB 1600, City of Tulare v. Superior Court (2008) 169 Cal.App.4th 373 applied CCP § 1005 notice to a Pitchess motion in a § 602 case. No published post-2020 case construes § 1043(a)(2) in juvenile court. Juvenile delinquency is out of scope.
Racial Justice Act motions (§§ 745, 1473(f)) and diversion (§§ 1000, 1001.36, 1001.95).

For civil motions — demurrer, anti-SLAPP, compel further, summary judgment — use the civil calculator.

This page is general legal information, not legal advice. Verify every deadline against the current code and your court’s rules.