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Capias issued for missing a court date? What do I do?
Please don't judge me but about a year ago I was in a relationship with somebody who was a very bad influence on me. He convinced me to steal something from a store while I was with him and I got caught. The items were less than $100 so I was charged with Petite Theft and it was my first charge ever. I went through deferred prosecution and I thought I did everything they asked me to do (I paid $200 to the court and $200 as a donation to a company). I thought I was all in the clear. Now about two months have gone by and I just paid a ticket I received for not having proof of insurance (though I did have insurance). The lady on the phone told me I should check on my misdemeanor because it looked like something was going on.
I checked today on the courthouse website and it turns out something must have happened because they revoked my deferred prosecution and apparently they sent me a letter summoning me back to court but during that time I realized my ex was a jerk and I moved back home. The letter was sent back to the courthouse. I wound up missing the court date because I didn't know about it and now a capias has been issued with a $500 bond!
What do I do?! I'm so scared! I'm only 20 and I thought I had this all taken care of! The capias was issued in a different county than I currently live in and I never go to that county so the capias has been going on for a month.
I really don't want to go to jail. I'm in college and working and I can't afford to get fired or kicked out of my program!
I don't have a lot of money but do have enough to pay the $500 so should I go to a lawyer or should I talk to the court about it first and see if they'll reset my court date?
How do I get this capias to go away?
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In this case you need to consult and hire a lawyer who will help you fight out the situation. There are actually many lawyer who help with civil issues and you may get effective solutions by hiring them. Its better to deal with best rather then roaming around the courts and waiting for the dates of hearing. Visit here [Link](Mouse over link to see full location) and get related information about the best lawyer.
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The capias is actually a Bench warrant for failure to appear. It matters not that you do not live, work or travel through the county it is issued in; it is on file in the legal system. Should you be stopped anywhere in the country and the officer requests a complete background check for you it will turn up.
What happens next is the Sheriff's office issuing the warrant is contacted and asked if they want you detained. If they say yes you will be arrested. Since this is a bondable warrant you should be allowed to post bond and be released. The bond is a guarantee of appearing in court in the county that issued the warrant. You will then be contacted with a new trial date.
My suggestion is you contact a lawyer. Let the lawyer make arrangements for you to turn to turn yourself in to the Sheriff's office, be booked and make bail. The whole process should only take an hour or so and can be done at time convenient for you so that you don't miss work or school. With your lawyer being with you; you probably will not see the inside of a jail cell.
The probable reason you were not arrested when you received the ticket for no proof of insurance. Is that the system that has the background information on outstanding warrants is a federal system and it goes down a lot. It may have been down when you were stopped or the officer did not run a background check.
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