Elsie Law's Daily Dose Of The Law

"Arraignment judges typically call cases in the following order: Cases in which defendants are represented by private counsel; Non-custody defendants who are representing themselves; and Defendants who are represented by the public defenders or other court appointed counsel, or defendants who are in custody.

This order awards first preference to private attorney cases and lowest priority to public defender cases, perhaps on the grounds that public defender clients are not paying for their attorneys' time and public defenders often have to spend the whole day in court anyway." -From, "The Criminal Law Handbook" By: Bergman & Berman-Barrett