Have an international vacation booked, possible warrant for arrest issued!

[MrAnderson123]

Charged in Iowa, living in Iowa, flying out of Missouri.

I was charged with a DUI and plead guilty, accepting a plea bargain. My terms were for a weekend "hotel lock-in" weekend in lieu of jail time, which I had a short deadline to complete. I got the ticket in my college town, and have been living out of town for 8 months for an internship. I was not able to complete the weekend class before moving away (they were booked several months out). The only option the court gave me to complete the program at was back in my college town. With my address change, I feel I missed some notices from the state... In November, I received a notice dated in August that I had 10 days to make arrangements or a warrant for arrest would be issued. I assume it was issued in August and I am just learning of it. I have booked a trip to Jamaica in December and am wondering if I will have issues at the airport or with customs? The charge is a serious misdemeanor in my state (Iowa) although the warrant for arrest isn't for the DUI... it's for not meeting the terms of my plea bargain. I plan to fly out of Missouri for Jamaica. Upon receiving my outdated notice in November, I scheduled the weekend class (scheduled for January). Will I have problems at the airport with police/customs?

Will the courthouse possibly drop the warrant if I contact them with proof of my registration in the weekend course?

Please advise! Thank you for taking the time to read/respond.

 

[justalayman]

Will the courthouse possibly drop the warrant if I contact them with proof of my registration in the weekend course?

I wouldn't expect them to. I think they really want to see your face.


what makes you believe your plea bargain is still valid? You did fail to comply with your end of the bargain. You may find yourself facing the original charges due to your failure to complete the lock up period by the time it was required to be completed.



I would not expect you to have problems with travelling though. No promises but generally a criminal records check is not part of the TSA molestation.

 

[MrAnderson123]

Is that what a warrant issued would mean - that the plea bargain is now invalid? I hope not because I just dropped a $500 non-refundable payment on that weekend class

 

[justalayman]

That could be the result. It would be up to the court. They could also simply allow you to complete the requirements. In either situation, I suspect they want to see your smiling face so they can yell at you about failing to complete the deal.


Did you schedule the lock up with the jail that was required before?

 

[MrAnderson123]

I scheduled the hotel lock-down weekend as was required by the plea bargain.

 

[justalayman]

You might get lucky and they accept it as completion. Too bad it is so far off though. You run the risk of being arrested until the warrant is recalled and I doubt they would recall it until you have actually proven you have completed your obligation.

 

[sandyclaus]

I suspect that just SCHEDULING the weekend lockdown isn't going to be enough. They expected you to COMPLETE it long before now.

I think you can kiss your plea bargain good bye.

 

[Shannongiles16]

I was unaware of this but a local pd officer told me they have to pay 30 dollars for a national check.

 

[HighwayMan]

I was unaware of this but a local pd officer told me they have to pay 30 dollars for a national check.

How is that relevant, if it was even true?

 

[Zigner]

In MY state, when a warrant is issued, the information is passed on to the folks at the airport. YMMV

 

[Shannongiles16]

If he is flying out of another state then it wouldnt be in the local database, i.e. they would have to pay the 30 dollars to see that he had a warrant in Iowa.

 

[HighwayMan]

If he is flying out of another state then it wouldnt be in the local database, i.e. they would have to pay the 30 dollars to see that he had a warrant in Iowa.

Not if the warrant is in NCIC.

I have never heard of a law enforcement agency paying for warrant inquiries.

 

[TigerD]

So, as I understand the question: You want to court to drop a warrant because you registered for something you should have done a long time ago so that you can leave the country.

hmmn.

Your honor, I just want you to drop your warrant so I can flee the jurisdiction. That's okay, right?

Bring your toothbrush...

DC

 

[illegalbeagle]

misdemeanors dont cross state lines, period. anything punishable by not more than one year in prison is a misdemeanor. the only way that warrant could affect you outside of Missouri, or... should, anyway... is if the underlying charge was for more than one year; and it sounds like this is not the case.

i entered the usa before with a misdemeanor warrant outstanding, i saw the customs dude notice it and he just flipped right on past. it'll show up in a database, possibly, but shouldnt have any pull.

this website is a good place to get some bad advice from screen-warrior pretend lawyers. id ignore all the previous posts. and verify what ive posted here, for yourself. look under missouri extradition laws, google everything i just put here. you ll find it is correct.

 

[illegalbeagle]

correction: "outside of Iowa"... the warrant is from Iowa not Missouri. so when you get to Missouri its another country already, with no extradition... so long as its a misdemeanor.