misdemeanor assault

[m1stydawn]

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

In 1996 I got into a fight with an Ex at his mother's house and was arrested. Both he and his mother pressed charges which ended up as 2 counts of misdemeanor assault.
I was taken to jail for a couple of days, saw a judge and got community service.
At the time I was 19 and had a newborn so I did not do said community service. I moved away, got married and forgot all about it.

I just found out I have 2 warrants out for my arrest. They sent me a letter in the mail at my new address informing me of said warrants. I am 8 months pregnant with my 2nd child so going to jail is not really an option for me.

1) Is there an expiration date for these?
2) What can I do about this other than go to jail?
3) Can they come after me at my home and take me to jail in another city over 4 hours away?

[outonbail]

[quote=m1stydawn;2122540]

1) Is there an expiration date for these?

No

2) What can I do about this other than go to jail?

Hide

3) Can they come after me at my home and take me to jail in another city 4 hours away?

Yes

[cyjeff]

On a related note, jail is rarely convenient for anyone.

The fact that you seem to think that the law is something you can merely ignore if not within your schedule will not sit well with a judge.

Many women give birth in prison.

[IsabellaSoriano]

Originally Posted by cyjeff

On a related note, jail is rarely convenient for anyone.

The fact that you seem to think that the law is something you can merely ignore if not within your schedule will not sit well with a judge.

Many women give birth in prison.

sad, but very true. OP, get that taken care of ASAP!! like last week.

[m1stydawn]

Originally Posted by cyjeff

On a related note, jail is rarely convenient for anyone.

The fact that you seem to think that the law is something you can merely ignore if not within your schedule will not sit well with a judge.

Many women give birth in prison.

Thank you for your insight.
I really appreciate it. This is however not a prison thing is is a county issue. There were no marks on anyone due to the fact that the only thing I did was push him away from my newborn.

As far as the warrants go I was not trying to purposfully ignore them. I just did not realize they were out there. Now that I have been made aware I am trying to find a way to deal with it without going to county jail..... not prison. I am not a murderer dear I just pushed an EX over 10 years ago.

I was only 19, both parents were gone, and I was not that intelligent. The biggest problem was that I went on with my life after he told me he dropped the charges. I was again young and did not know any better otherwise I would have known better than to listen to him.

I would just rather not go to county jail if I do not have to. This is a way of exploring my options all the while making a decision on how to approch this.

I really do appreciate your thoughts on this matter they have been helpful.
It has helped me to see how other people see this situation without the emotions I have regarding it.

[cracker]

Go turn yourself in, post the bail, go to court, get probation and never trust anyone who tells you they dropped charges.

[m1stydawn]

Thank you for your help.

I do not wish to hide I would just prefer to take care of it outside of county jail.

[m1stydawn]

Originally Posted by cracker

Go turn yourself in, post the bail, go to court, get probation and never trust anyone who tells you they dropped charges.

Thank you so much for your thoughts.

This was something I had considered but given the fact that I am currently a high risk pregnancy I was afraid to attempt such a maneuver with my due date approaching so rapidly.

Due to the fact that this was over 10 years ago I am thankfully wiser now and know better than to take action regarding my well being based on someone's word alone that they took care of something. Most importantly I now know better than to trust an EX.

Thank you again for the insight.
It is greatly appreciated & I hope you are having a lovely evening.

[m1stydawn]

Originally Posted by IsabellaSoriano

sad, but very true. OP, get that taken care of ASAP!! like last week.

Thank you so much for the help.

At this time I am currently viewing my options to assist me with a plan to handle this outside of county jail. I am not going to prison. At this time I am currently a high risk pregnancy with possible maternal and fetal death. I do not feel the county wants me that bad considering the fact I have already spoken with them and explained the situation to them.

I am only here looking for alternative options to county jail at this time.

This is not a going to prison matter this is simply a case of boyfriend, girlfriend ugly break up that resulted in a county issue.

I am not a wanted felon, I am actually more like Betty Crocker who had a crazy EX. I pushed him away from my newborn and he pressed charges. That was about it.

Again, Thank you for the feedback and I hope your evening is lovely.

[outonbail]

Originally Posted by m1stydawn

There were no marks on anyone due to the fact that the only thing I did was push him away from my newborn.
I am not a murderer dear I just pushed an EX over 10 years ago.

No one is thinking you're a murderer. Whatever issues lead to your assault conviction, are really moot at this point. According to what you've posted, that part of your legal situation was over a decade ago. You are currently facing a warrant that was issued for failing to follow court orders and/or violation of your probation. So this is really all you need to be concerned with at this point.

I was only 19, both parents were gone, and I was not that intelligent. The biggest problem was that I went on with my life after he told me he dropped the charges. I was again young and did not know any better otherwise I would have known better than to listen to him.

This was certainly a strange thing for him to tell you since you were already given a sentence on the assault charge, so outside of the terms of your probation needing to be completed, the case was basically over already. Just for future reference, an ex can not charge you or drop the charges against you, this is why they have a district attorney. An ex can file a complaint, but it is up to the DA to decide whether charges will result from the complaint or not, as well if they will be dropped or not.

I would just rather not go to county jail if I do not have to. This is a way of exploring my options all the while making a decision on how to approch this.

I can understand not wanting to go to county jail. In fact, I'd say the majority of the population feels the same way.

Now to give you an idea of how this usually works, you will need to think way back to when you were 19. Do you remember what the judge sentenced you to? Did he possibly give you 90 days, then suspend the sentence and place you on probation with a condition being you would have to do say 30 days of community service? Or did the judge possibly give you thirty days to be completed on week ends, in the form of community service?
Do you remember if you were ordered to attend anger management classes?
Did you have to pay a fine and court costs? If so, did you pay those fines off?
Do you remember how long you were to be on probation?

If you can remember the answers to these questions, we can provide you with a better idea of what you may be facing.

You could always hire an attorney who practices in the jurisdiction where these warrants were issued. An attorney can probably get the warrants quashed or held until you can appear in court. The attorney will arrange this time and date for you, but you will most likely have to appear in person to get the issue resolved.

One of the problems you may be up against, is if the judge reinstates your probation, you will have to arrange for it to be transferred to your home state. Since it has been 10 years and you haven't gotten in any more trouble, I don't know if it can be resolved with paying fines or not. Probably not, but you never know what arrangements an attorney can work out with the DA. But a good attorney is usually worth the cost, as they will probably negotiate the best possible resolve for your situation.

It has helped me to see how other people see this situation without the emotions I have regarding it.

As I stated earlier, the reason why you received the assault conviction will not matter to the court. In their eyes you plead guilty and they see you as being guilty. So they will not be concerned with the extent of injuries or hearing it was just a shove. They are only concerned with the fact that you didn't do what you were ordered to do and agreed to do, when you were released from custody.

[m1stydawn]

Originally Posted by outonbail

this is why they have a district attorney. An ex can file a complaint, but it is up to the DA to decide whether charges will result from the complaint or not, as well if they will be dropped or not.

I was in jail for 2 days and saw the judge to plead guilty, not guilty or no contest and I did not have a lawyer nor was there a DA. It was really strange. I was not even offered a lawyer. I could be wrong but aren't they supposed to offer you a lawyer? He said that I could get out of jail if I were to plead no contest or guilty. However I would not get out of jail if I were to plead not guilty and then I would need a lawyer. It was just me and the other people in the jail that night standing in front of a judge and no one else. His bench was in the front of jail right outside the holding tank. It was not like a regular courtroom.

Originally Posted by outonbail

Do you remember what the judge sentenced you to? Did he possibly give you 90 days, then suspend the sentence and place you on probation with a condition being you would have to do say 30 days of community service? Or did the judge possibly give you thirty days to be completed on week ends, in the form of community service?

From what I can remember of the charges they were 2 Class C Misdemeanors. I could not find the paper on those. On the paper I do have it shows he gave me a total of 32 hours of community service to be served within 6 months. I was not placed on probation he just wrote community service and dates. He gave me a list of where I could go to serve and then sent me home. I did not have a probation officer or anyone to report back to. He sent me off with just my list and a sheet to get signed by the people who provided the place for me to serve my community service. After I read your response I searched through all the stray papers in boxes and found the 2 sheets after all these years. It said 32 hours of community service to be completed by June 1997 To start on December 30, 1996

Originally Posted by outonbail

Do you remember if you were ordered to attend anger management classes? Did you have to pay a fine and court costs? If so, did you pay those fines off? Do you remember how long you were to be on probation?

No anger management classes. There weren't any costs or fines. I called them when I found out about this and they said there weren't any fines. I just did not serve my community service and that resulted in a warrant. I am actually starting to feel like I got railroaded thinking back on all of this. I didn't have anyone to help me.

Originally Posted by outonbail

If you can remember the answers to these questions, we can provide you with a better idea of what you may be facing.

I greatly appreciate any and all help you can give. This is all fairly confusing for me and you seem to have some great questions that may really help me figure something out on this. I feel a good lawyer is the only way to go here. If I try this on my own I am more than likely going to get screwed in the end. I just don't have the knowledge that is required to be able to handle this on my own.

Originally Posted by outonbail

You could always hire an attorney who practices in the jurisdiction where these warrants were issued. An attorney can probably get the warrants quashed or held until you can appear in court. The attorney will arrange this time and date for you, but you will most likely have to appear in person to get the issue resolved.

That action is looking more and more appealing every second I think back on this with the help of your questions. It is a very small town in the same state I live in. So I am not sure if by jurisdiction you mean I need a lawyer in the same county or I just need to find a lawyer in this state.

Originally Posted by outonbail

One of the problems you may be up against, is if the judge reinstates your probation, you will have to arrange for it to be transferred to your home state. Since it has been 10 years and you haven't gotten in any more trouble, I don't know if it can be resolved with paying fines or not. Probably not, but you never know what arrangements an attorney can work out with the DA. But a good attorney is usually worth the cost, as they will probably negotiate the best possible resolve for your situation.

I was incorrect on the time frame I was arrested in 1996. So it makes it 12 years old now. I am still in the same state less than 6 hours away from where I was arrested. The only problem with driving there and serving the community service right this second is I am a high risk pregnancy and going on 8 1/2 months. I was told not to be more than a 1/2 hour away from the hospital. I understand that they will not care about any of this. However this may help you to understand what drives my fear and what drove me here for help. I can't tell you how much I really do appreciate all of your help. Just your questions get me thinking and are leading me toward a possible solution. You are also helping to ease my fear that I am not out here alone and other people have ideas. For all of this I Thank You.

There are a few other things confusing me. I got my drivers license in 2001 and have been pulled over for speeding twice in 7 years. I also worked for TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) in 2003. I had to go through a background check and a fingerprinting. I was only a clerk who pulled and handed off the files of convicts in prison who were up for parole. (You would think I would have gotten a clue about the law) It just seems strange to me that all this time and I came up ok through all of this. I would have thought that if I had a warrant out for my arrest then I would not have been able to do all of this. I haven't been in any trouble other than two speeding tickets that were 3 years apart. I got them dismissed through defensive driving classes. I truly hope no surprises come from those!!! As for being good I learned my lesson and got away from the bad boy and became Betty Crocker sadly without the great cooking ability. I can only hope the judge will see that and be merciful.

Originally Posted by outonbail

As I stated earlier, the reason why you received the assault conviction will not matter to the court. In their eyes you plead guilty and they see you as being guilty. So they will not be concerned with the extent of injuries or hearing it was just a shove. They are only concerned with the fact that you didn't do what you were ordered to do and agreed to do, when you were released from custody.

Legal education should be mandatory in High school. I don't think I would be here today in this situation if I knew just a little bit about the law. I am beginning to believe that I was run completely over by the judge. He had the ability to do so due to the fact that I was young and completely stupid. I knew nothing about lawyers and such at the time. I was not even offered one. I would have jumped on the offer to not have been alone in front of the very tall judge. When this all started I knew I was supposed to do the community service unfortunately I was young/stupid to believe an EX and then left the city and him to start a better life. I've been a good girl ever since and should have known better than to believe that it was taken care of. I did not so now I am finding myself in trouble that I had no idea was even happening.

Sadly ignorance of the law is not a valid reason in the eyes of the law. Just because I did not know the speed limit was 30 does not mean I am not getting a ticket anyway.

[CavemanLawyer]

These are class C offenses punishable by fine only. When you were ordered to do community service you actually were put on probation just with no reporting. During the prescribed probation period you had to show proof that you completed the community service and if you had done that the case would have been dismissed. Since you did not complete it your probation was revoked and you will now be found guilty and sentenced by the court. The thing that was probated was simply the fine. So the worst that the court can do to you is sentence you to the maximum fine of $500 on each offense. It is not possible for you to be sentenced to jail time. However, there is a warrant for your arrest because of the probation revocation so if you are arrested on it there may be some waiting period before you are sentenced or are able to bond out.

If you show up to the issuing court with the money they may just let you pay a fine and have the warrant withdrawn without you having to be booked into jail. It depends on the court and their mood. If you are arrested, simply having the money in hand to pay the fine (what the amount of the bond will be) should allow you to be very quickly released.

Before you take care of this print out this case:
[url=http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/OPINIONS/HTMLOPINIONINFO.ASP?OPINIONID=16469]Texas Judiciary Online - HTML Opinion[/url]

It is a recent case holding that all fines for all convictions must run concurrently. That means that even if they sentence you to $500 on each charge you still only have to pay a total of $500. This is a very recent ruling and a lot of JP courts don't realize this yet.

As for one of your other questions, there is no right to an attorney in Texas on a Class C offense. If you cannot afford one you just have to represent yourself. That is why you were not given one when you originally plead guilty.

[m1stydawn]

Originally Posted by CavemanLawyer

As for one of your other questions, there is no right to an attorney in Texas on a Class C offense. If you cannot afford one you just have to represent yourself. That is why you were not given one when you originally plead guilty.

There are no words to express how much I appreciate the amazing help you have given me. I am truly at a complete and total loss for words to express how I feel at this moment.

Thank you for not only explaining this to me in a way that calms my fears but for also giving me hope that this can and just very well may be all over soon.

I did not actually understand what the community service represented and now all of the pieces just fell into place. I hate to use this cliché for an example but I swear it was like the light bulb switched on and I could see everything.

I called them when I got the letter completly confused by it and their only reply was come in and we will talk about it. No one there would answer my questions and honestly I had no idea if I was even asking the right ones. Given the help and information I have recieved I will be calling them again after the holidays to see about possibly paying a fine and feeling comfortable enough now to ask about my options. I am not as scared as I was when this was posted. I have gotten some great information but you gave me the last and most important piece to the puzzle. For this I can't thank you enough.

THANK YOU so much for helping my light bulb switch on.

I hope you are having a very lovely evening and Happy Holidays!

Thank you again!

[CavemanLawyer]

Glad to help. Just make sure that when you go to court you do it in the morning or early afternoon on a weekday. If they do choose to book you and its too late in the day you may be held overnight, and if its on a weekend or definitely on a Sunday, you usually have to wait until Monday to bond out or be sentenced on your fine.