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What is a Bench Warrant?

by Richard J. Banta | Dec 19, 2020 | Uncategorized

Criminal Lawyer

To obtain knowledge that you have a warrant put out for you is one of the scariest things that can happen to you. The first place that usually comes to a person’s mind when they hear the word “warrant,” is jail, of course. There have been numerous amounts of cases where a person had no idea that they had a warrant out for their arrest. Even if you had a smooth run in with the police, or even if you took the initiative to call them, you can still end up in the back of a police car. That is something that is extremely frightening to think about. The reasons to why a person can have a bench warrant varies, but more times than not bench warrants are issued because of tickets that have yet to be paid. You may think that the worst thing that could happen to you because of having an unpaid citation is to just have late fees because you failed to pay the citation on time, but that isn’t accurate. It is imperative that you go through every specific asset that is on the ticket that you have received because there is a possibility that your ticket came with a court date. If you don’t show up to court on that day, then there will be a bench warrant put out for your arrest. 

In case you have no idea on what a bench warrant is, it is something that is given by a judge that tells police that you must come to court. Having a bench warrant doesn’t mean that you will automatically get sent to prison, it just means that you must show up to court. The bad thing about having a bench warrant is that since you missed your last court date, the only way for a judge to make sure that you show up in court is to have the police take keep you in custody until another court date has been issued for you, which is unlike your previous court date in which you had the opportunity to show up to court on your own. 

No matter your experience with law, law enforcement, or even being arrested, dealing with a criminal case can be very overwhelming and sometimes life altering. This is why it is always best to speak to a criminal lawyer, like from The Lynch Law Group, even if you do not hire one. Should you have a bench warrant, contact an attorney as soon as possible.