At May & McKinney, PLLC in Tennessee, we represent many people charged with allegedly committing a crime. Consequently, we know how important it is that you show up at all your scheduled court hearings.
Unfortunately, many people fail to take a court date seriously, particularly if it involves a perceived minor traffic violation such as speeding, etc. Failing to appear in court at the scheduled time, however, can place you in bigger trouble than you currently face.
Bench warrants
WarrantAndDispositionToolkit.com explains that in the event you fail to appear in court when you are supposed to, the judge may well issue a bench warrant for your arrest.
A bench warrant represents a specific type of arrest warrant. Here the judge himself or herself issues the warrant, his or her probable cause being your failure to appear in court to address your underlying ticket. The warrant grants law enforcement officers the right to arrest you whenever and wherever they find you. In addition, once issued, the bench warrant goes into not only the court’s computer system, but also the county’s and state’s computer systems.
While in all likelihood law enforcement officers will not come to your home or place of work to arrest you on a bench warrant, they can if they so choose. The more likely situation is that the next time one of them pulls you over for an alleged traffic violation, (s)he will check to see if you have any outstanding warrants. Since a bench warrant never expires, (s)he will find yours and immediately arrest you. Keep in mind that failure to appear constitutes a separate offense from whatever your original ticket charged you with.
For additional information, please visit this page on our website.