Add a Defendant to a Process

The act of adding a Defendant to a process is identical for Warrants, Summons, Orders and Orders based on Citations. A search of Master Person is first required. If this search does not return the Defendant, then NCAWARE will allow the user to add a Person record for the Defendant.

Before you start:

A process requires a Defendant be added or assigned before the process can have a status of Complete.
A Defendant cannot be less than 16 years of age unless the Emancipated Juvenile checkbox is selected.
A Person record selected or added as a Defendant on Magistrate Orders or Magistrate Orders based on Citations must contain a Date Of Birth or Age.
Businesses can be added (or appear) as Defendants on the following processes: Criminal Summons, Worthless Check Criminal Summons, Release Order, and Appearance Bond.
A person can be a Defendant on a Criminal Summons only if the Offense is a misdemeanor. A business can be a Defendant on a Criminal Summons for either a misdemeanor or felony Offense.

Select the DEFENDANT tab from the process being added.
The DEFENDANT tab displays. Click the Add Defendant button.

Note: If applicable, a Business can be selected as the Defendant by use of the Add Defendant dropdown.

A SEARCH screen based on your selection displays. Enter search criteria and click the Search button. For more Help on the possible searches, see Search for Person or Search for Business.
Once the Search button is clicked, a SEARCH RESULTS screen will display with a list of Person (or Business) records that match the search criteria.
- If one of the returned names matches the Defendant, continue to Step #6. (The Defendant can also be edited at this point. See Edit Person Details or Edit Business Details for Help.)
- If no returned names match the Defendant, click here for Help on Adding a Person or Adding a Business to the database. Once the new Person or Business record is added, click the Select as Defendant button. Skip to Step #7.
From the SEARCH RESULTS screen, select the radio button of the Person or Business record that matches the Defendant and click the Select button.

The DEFENDANT ASSIGNMENT screen displays. Select an appropriate value from the required Reason for linking the Defendant dropdown and perform any of the following options, if relevant:
- Select up to two Aliases to also appear on process along with the True Name.
- If the Defendant has more than one image attached to his/her Person record, then select the specific image (by using Next Image button) that will appear on the process.

Note: The most current image displays by default and will automatically appear on the process unless changed.

Note: If the Defendant is a Business and does not contain a Contact Name, the BUSINESS DETAIL screen will display. Enter the required Contact Name and click the Edit button. The defendant ASSIGNMENT screen will then display.

After completing the options on the DEFENDANT ASSIGNMENT screen, click the Add button.

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The DEFENDANT tab returns, displaying the selected or added Person or Business record.

For a listing of associated rules for this topic, click here.