Can they do this?

[Perked]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? SLC, UT

Can they do this?

Awhile ago I got pulled over and issued citations for the following:
DOS, No Insurance, and speeding.
I had insurance just not a valid proof in the car (turns out it was in the car, I just overlooked it.).
Anyway, when court time came around I pleaded no contest to the following:
DOS, and speeding

I plead not guilty to no insurance.

I was sentenced and fined for the DOS, and speeding.

After 3 payments I ran into financial trouble and had to stop making payments.
Approximately 5 months after I stopped making payments, I was driving around with a friend that just had purchased a 78 firebird. It had temporary tags on at the time.
We got pulled over because it was snowing and the police officer could not see the temp tags in the window. After finding out my friend had no license he asked for all of our Id’s
to see who had a valid license, to drive the car home.

While he is checking 3 more cops show up, then A K-9 unit.
Next thing I know I’m getting pulled out of the car on a $5,000 no insurance warrant and being taken to jail.

I was let out on OR after being there for 5 hours. The following business day was court.
In court nothing was mentioned about Jail, or the No insurance. Just simply rearrange Payments No late fee’s, or anything.

Can they do this? Issue a warrant for something I was never guilty of? Can they issue A 5,000 warrant on a charge that has been acquitted?

Hope i posted in the right forum.

Thanx in advance!

 

[CdwJava]

Apparently they issued a warrant for the offense. The no insurance thing may have been included in the warrant only because it was included in all the charges that you had pled to and were paying fines on. The warrant was likely a result of your failing to pay fines on the charges you were convicted of.

If you have the money, fight the matter. Otherwise, my guess is that your information is slightly askew and that the warrant was for the incident as a whole and not specifically for the no insurance part.

Either way a warrant was in your future when you decided to stop paying your fines.

Carl

 

[Perked]

Understood. But A 200$ fine should in no way turn into A 5,000 $ warrant
with No Ins. being the only thing on the warrant. The cop said it was for no insurance that is why i was taken to jail. I had another DOS in A different city and they did not care about it becuase it was under 1500$.
The information is not askew.. How could it be injcluded in all the charges if i was not charged with it? I had insurance i brought a proof into court and they dropped the charge. What i'm saying is if the warrant was for the DOS/Speeding i would have simply been told you have a warrant get it taken care of. Not you have A $5,000 No ins that does not mention any of the other charges.

 

[CdwJava]

The officer may not have read the warrant properly. Or, perhaps you failed to show proof of the insurance to the court. Who knows? Again, once you stopped paying your court-ordered fines, the warrant was inevitable.

And in CA a warrant is an order by a judge to arrest the person named ... it is NOT something we can say "Take care of it," then cut them loose. I suspect the same is true in UT.

And at least out here, the bail amount CAN go higher than the fine so I wouldn't be surprised.

If you are truly concerned and are considering suing someone, you might want to get a lawyer and look to see WHO entered the information in to the warrant system and IF it was entered incorrectly. The police were enforcing a court order so they are out of the liability loop. If the court screwed up, then you MIGHT be able to sue them ... but whether you could get anything from them would depend on the details. And since a warrant was likely going to issue again, the fact it listed the allegedly dropped charge and not the active ones might be a case of 'six of one, half a dozen of another'.

Carl