1. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 5 and 6, a peace officer making an arrest under a warrant issued upon a complaint or without a warrant shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before the magistrate who issued the warrant or the nearest available magistrate empowered to commit persons charged with offenses against the laws of the State of Nevada.

2. A private person making an arrest without a warrant shall deliver the arrested person without unnecessary delay to a peace officer. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 5 and 6 and NRS 171.1772, the peace officer shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before the nearest available magistrate empowered to commit persons charged with offenses against the laws of the State of Nevada.

3. If an arrested person is not brought before a magistrate within 72 hours after arrest, excluding nonjudicial days, the magistrate:

(a) Shall give the prosecuting attorney an opportunity to explain the circumstances leading to the delay; and

(b) May release the arrested person if the magistrate determines that the person was not brought before a magistrate without unnecessary delay.

4. When a person arrested without a warrant is brought before a magistrate, a complaint must be filed forthwith.

5. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 178.484 and 178.487, where the defendant can be admitted to bail without appearing personally before a magistrate, the defendant must be so admitted with the least possible delay, and required to appear before a magistrate at the earliest convenient time thereafter.

6. A peace officer may immediately release from custody without any further proceedings any person the peace officer arrests without a warrant if the peace officer is satisfied that there are insufficient grounds for issuing a criminal complaint against the person arrested. Any record of the arrest of a person released pursuant to this subsection must also include a record of the release. A person so released shall be deemed not to have been arrested but only detained.

(Added to NRS by 1967, 1404; A 1971, 574; 1975, 1201; 1979, 323, 1190; 1997, 3356; 2001, 2023)