Can anyone tell me what these court terms/phrases mean?

[curiousconfused]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Can anyone tell me what the following means? This is in order top to bottom from the most recent to the oldest. It is not my case. It is someone from my past who I have not spoken to in 6+ years, and they sent me a letter from jail about a week ago. When I received the letter, I checked the inmate booking website for the county he lives in, and he was in custody. I checked it again a few days later and he is no longer in custody. I am not sure if he posted bail or if they just released him. When I had checked the inmate bookings website, it did show that he was in jail because of being picked up on a warrant a few days after his first court date, so it does seem like they went and got him, then he spent about 2 weeks in jail. He has 2 felony charges against him (non-violent wobblers, but both are classified as felonies and not misdemeanors). I ran a name search on him on the county website and this is what it shows for his case against him. Many of them are obvious, but I'm not sure I'm understanding a lot of it.

Edited to add dates in case it makes it easier to read.

Date	Reason	Outcome
3/12/15	BAIL BOND INFORMATION	BAIL FORFEITED
3/12/15	COUNSEL INFORMATION	COURT APPOINTED ATTORNEY REAPPOINTED
3/12/15	COUNSEL INFORMATION	COURT APPOINTED COUNSEL RELIEVED
3/12/15	MOTION TO RECALL BENCH WARRANT	MOTION GRANTED
3/12/15	SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE	CONTINUED
3/12/15	SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE	FAILED TO APPEAR
2/24/15	ARRAIGNMENT	ARR, COPY DEL, INF RTS, ADVISE: RE: ATTY FEES/987.8PC
2/24/15	COUNSEL INFORMATION	COURT APPOINTED COUNSEL RELIEVED
2/17/15	ARRAIGNMENT	FAILED TO APPEAR
2/17/15	BAIL BOND INFORMATION	BAIL FORFEITED

 

[Zigner]

www.google.com

 

[curiousconfused]

That's what I did. All 20,267 results came back "forum.freeadvice.com".

Actually, I've spent a few hours off and on today trying to piece them together, but unfortunately my feeble non-legal mind is struggling. But thanks for your swift response!

 

[Silverplum]

That's what I did. All 20,267 results came back "forum.freeadvice.com".

Actually, I've spent a few hours off and on today trying to piece them together, but unfortunately my feeble non-legal mind is struggling. But thanks for your swift response!

https://www.google.com/#q=CA+court+glossary

https://www.google.com/#q=court+terms+dictionary

https://www.google.com/#q=court+failed+to+appear

etc.

 

[Zigner]

Frankly, the OP is thinking about this too much - all of the outcomes shown are plain-english (except for ARR, COPY DEL, INF RTS, ADVISE: RE: ATTY FEES/987.8PC which one can make a decent guess at anyway.)

 

[curiousconfused]

Frankly, the OP is thinking about this too much - all of the outcomes shown are plain-english (except for ARR, COPY DEL, INF RTS, ADVISE: RE: ATTY FEES/987.8PC which one can make a decent guess at anyway.)

It's not the individual terms that are confusing me. It's the order in which they appear and how they go together - because from the searching that I have done, some of them don't seem to go hand in hand together. In addition, the term "bail forfeited" seems to potentially mean multiple things. Also, "failed to appear" followed by "motion to recall bench warrant".

Like I said - many of them are obvious - but it's more how they work together that I don't understand.

 

[The Occultist]

OP, the reason you are not receiving more informative advice is because this case does not apply to you. This site is more oriented towards helping people deal with their own legal matters. In fact, I was about to advise you to pose these questions to your attorney, but I did a reread and realized that said advice would not help you because it is not your case. This post is not meant to sound condescending, so please forgive me if it does, I'm just trying to relay to you why you're not getting the exact answers you are looking for.

 

[curiousconfused]

OP, the reason you are not receiving more informative advice is because this case does not apply to you. This site is more oriented towards helping people deal with their own legal matters. In fact, I was about to advise you to pose these questions to your attorney, but I did a reread and realized that said advice would not help you because it is not your case. This post is not meant to sound condescending, so please forgive me if it does, I'm just trying to relay to you why you're not getting the exact answers you are looking for.

Indeed, it is not my case. It's fine. I was trying to respond to the letter that he sent to me from jail, but then the next thing I knew, he was out of jail and I now do not have any way of getting a hold of him. It is my ex-husband's case and we have a child together who he has not seen in 6+ years because he disappeared off the face of the earth (child is now a teenager). As a parent of a teenager who has not seen his father in so long and who is asking questions, I was looking for information to see if I could ascertain how much time he might be spending in jail/prison, whether I should tell my child that he is in jail/prison, etc., but it's hard to make a decision when I am not 100% sure what is going on.

So I'm just letting it go Thanks for the assistance.

Edit to add: Also, as I don't live in that area anymore (approx. 2 hours away), the only thing that I can really do is pull information up online - he actually sent the letter to my parents' house because they own their home and he knew that they would probably still be living there, and he does not know where I live since I have not spoken to him in so long. It's not very practical for me to just mosey on down to the county courthouse up there to see if I can get information; while I do visit regularly - every other month or so - it's generally just for a weekend visit when the courthouse is closed.

 

[single317dad]

It's hard to say what the entries mean without context.

Possible sentence would be based on the charges and any convictions thereof, not any of the docket entries provided.

 

[FlyingRon]

Looks like it's not gone to trial because of a failure to appear for whatever reason. When the defendant disappeared the previous counsel was released from his obligation, but it appears he's probably locked up (at least in the jurisdiction he's charged) and a new attorney has been appointed. Even when not complicated by disappearing defendants, felonies take a while to prosecute.

I suspect the note with the abbreviations says that the arraignment was delivered, the information was sent back returned to sender (probably because it was certified and he never signed for it) and there was some procedural information on the appointed attorney getting his fee for what happened so far.

 

[Silverplum]

I did answer.