Once someone becomes part of a case, they must understand how every part of the process works to avoid mistakes. If the defendant's lawyer, for example, fails to let them know how they should follow a court order, they could get in trouble.
Overall, people understand what an arrest warrant is. It's one of the most common types of warrants. However, there are situations where law enforcement officers use other options.
While bench warrants are similar to arrest ones, they are used for different purposes. This page will help people understand how they work in case they ever see one in a case.
Everyone should always know an experienced criminal defense attorney they can call in an emergency. The problem is that it's difficult to choose one with all the options available in the state.
Goss Law works with professionals with a lot of experience. It works in Sacramento, California, and it's willing to do anything to help its clients.
People can go to this law firm's website to learn more about its services or call to address any concerns they have directly. They also have answers to questions such as what is a blue warrant in CA?
What Is a California Bench Warrant?
Bench warrants are court orders judges issue to arrest people who don't follow previous commands. People often confuse them with arrest warrants.
Rather than take the person to prison or a detention center, the main goal of a bench warrant is to take them to court. Actually, the most common case where judges may need to file this order is when someone misses a scheduled court date.
Although the need for a criminal defense lawyer was mentioned before, judges can use a bench warrant for civil cases, too. Goss Law can also advise on questions like what is a warrant in writing in CA?
The name of this type of warrant comes from the fact that courts typically send them when someone fails to appear before the judge's bench. This also references that they could issue them from there.
While bench warrants are, indeed, mostly used for failure to appear in court cases, they work for other situations. Judges may issue a bench warrant when:
The defendant missed a scheduled court date, such as an arraignment, pretrial conference, or trial session.
Someone doesn't pay fines ordered by the court.
Defendants in a case violate parole or probation terms.
People don't follow court-ordered programs, such as community service, AA meetings, or therapy.
What Does the Law Say About Bench Warrants?
When speaking about how a legal process works, it's essential to understand what the law specifically says about it. That regulates how things should be done and, it will be anyone's lawyer's best tool in a criminal case.
Any decent criminal defense lawyer should explain this to their client, but it's still good to know what the law says about bench warrants. In this case, the answers are in the California Penal Code.
People will find all the information they need about bench warrants in § 978.5 of this law, within its first chapter. It mainly specifies the situations where judges may issue these orders.
This section mainly lists failure to appear in court cases. It includes situations where the defendant was required by a judge or magistrate to appear at a specific time and place, had a citation from a peace officer, or specifically promised to go for a case-related reason.
If a grand jury indicts a person and they are not in custody at the time, judges could file a bench warrant, too.
Arrest Warrant vs. Bench Warrant
It's easy to confuse an arrest warrant with a bench warrant. At the end of the day, they both ask law enforcement officers to detain someone. For more information, our criminal lawyers in Sacramento may be able to help.
Regardless of that, knowing the differences between them could help people in an ongoing case in many ways. These are the most important ones:
Reason for Issuing
To issue an arrest warrant, police officers need to base it on probable cause that someone committed a crime. They must have evidence.
When a judge issues a bench warrant, they don't need evidence because there aren't new allegations of a crime.
Purpose
The main purpose of a bench warrant is to take the detained person to court to address the non-compliance situation. On the other hand, arrest orders are meant to protect society from the danger the suspect could represent to others or to avoid flight risks.
Authority That Issues It
Arrest and bench warrants are court orders that come from the judge. However, the latter needs them to analyze evidence of suspected criminal activity before issuing it.
Severity
Since police officers don't always need an arrest warrant to detain someone, courts mostly issue them for serious crimes. This court order also helps when searching the suspect's property is needed.
Bench warrants mainly come from non-compliance cases. Hence, they are not as severe as an arrest one.
Consequences of Bench Warrants in CA
Having a bench warrant issued against someone is serious, and it won't help the person's case. Naturally, it will have legal consequences too. These are the most common ones:
Arrest
The idea of issuing a bench warrant is to arrest someone and take them to court. That could happen at any time, and any law enforcement officer could take care of the job.
Jail Time
While this depends on the severity of the original crime the defendant is suspected of committing, a bench warrant could make them spend some time in a county jail. This is mostly to avoid flight risks. It's uncommon to see this happen in a case that involves a misdemeanor offense.
Fines and Fees
Defendants with a bench warrant on them may need to pay the court something as a penalty. If they failed to pay court-ordered fines, they will also have to do so.
Driver's License Suspension
Though it's uncommon, a bench warrant could lead to driver's license suspension.
Personal Consequences
Similar to arrest warrants, bench orders stay in the defendant's record. That could make it more difficult for them to get a job or a bank loan.
Conclusion
Getting a bench warrant is scary for most people, especially if they are already facing criminal charges. The key to staying calm is to understand everything that comes with it and have a decent defense lawyer guide the defendant throughout the process.
While these warrants are serious, it's not impossible to get them removed. People facing this problem in Sacramento, California, should call Goss Law. Lines are open all week, so the attorneys of this firm are always ready to help.