Did you miss a court date? Well, you can’t always make it up. If you have been ordered to appear in court and then don’t show up, you could be facing additional criminal charges. Ohio judges expect people to show up , especially if they were granted bail.
Things happen. Surely you didn’t intend to miss your court date but possibly had no other choice. You may have had to travel, or moved out of state. Or maybe you were panicked about the situation, and made a bad decision. But now you may be facing criminal charges or have a warrant out for your arrest. I can help.
When you are considered for being released from jail by a judge, it’s because he expects you to show up for the court date. Then if you fail to return, it proves to the judge that he may have been wrong in thinking you were not a “flight risk”. No one likes to be wrong. So if you are caught, you will almost certainly be held in jail for some time, possibly for the entirety of the rest of your court case.
Will you be caught? Probably. Eventually. A simple, minor misdemeanor charge. A speeding ticket. A broken tail light. Failure to use proper signal. You probably aren’t being looked for by law enforcement, but any minor incident or interaction with local police or Ohio state highway patrol can get you arrested and thrown in jail. You could be just driving down the street doing nothing wrong. With the new license plate scanning technology, your tag could be read automatically and you could be flagged as a driver with an outstanding criminal warrant. The officer would instantly pull you over.
The risks are just too great. If you are know you have an outstanding criminal warrant, you need to deal with it immediately, while you still have options and can negotiate a result that will keep you out of jail.
If you miss a court date, it may be called “bail jumping” Your bail was a promise that you would appear. While bail jumping will not get you additional criminal charges, it does have serious consequences. When you fail to appear after being released on bail, a warrant will be issued for your arrest and / or your bail may be forfeited – the money or collateral that was put up for your release will be lost. The state gets to keep it.
This warrant won’t just go away. There is no statute of limitations to make them go away. I will come back to haunt you. The longer you wait to deal with the situation, the more serious the consequences will be.
The Bottom Line: This problem can often be fixed. Call me and I can help work out a deal for you, if you haven’t been arrested. If there is a warrant out for your arrest, there are so many different options. This situation requires a good defense attorney. By fighting in the courtroom and negotiating with experience, I can help. Put my mobile phone number into your phone: 513-260-2099
Scott A. Rubenstein, Cincinnati Attorney at Law