Need advice on an URGENT matter. PLEASE!!

California (Orange County)

Hello,

I’m new to this forum, so please bear with …

This post isn’t actually about me, but it concerns me a lot, and I hope to find an answer. It’s about my ex-wife, personal good friend and confidant. It seems she’s in a bit of trouble, but I don’t think it’s her fault.

Let me try to explain this:

1) She had a DUI back in 1996
2) She failed to complete all the classes and pay restitution. It seems she ran into a light post in the parking lot of a business establishment and their insurance paid for the damages (around $2,500). Her restitution is $2,500.
3) Consequently, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. I only recently found this out.
4) Here it is 2004 and she is finally apprehended for the 1996 issue. She is charged with penal code 1203.2 - REARREST/REVOKE PROBAT
5) She goes to jail for a few days and is then sent to court the following Monday.
6) During her court “appearance” they do not allow her to actually see the judge, but rather keep her in a holding cell during the proceedings. A public defender finally comes to her holding cell and proceeds to spell out her options – she can either a) pay the $2,500 restitution by Friday (4 days later) and attend an 18 month program or b) spend the next 9 months in jail. She then asked the public defender if he would relay a message to the judge regarding her severe, rapid-cycling bipolar disorder and the fact that she had already made plans to attend a 6 month in-residence treatment program, hoping the judge might consider this before handing down sentence. The public defender replied to her request with, “I’m not your messenger.”. So, in desperation, she agreed to come up with the money.
7) The public defender told her to show up in court on Friday, Oct. 1, 2004 with the money.
8) She is then taken back to her cell in jail.
9) She called me when she got a chance. She was sobbing and in despair over the thought of not being able to come up with $2,500 in the next 4 days and so having to spend the next 9 months in jail.
10) I bailed her out of jail.
11) Friday arrives and she and I go to court to face the consequences. The only problem is, she is not to be found on the roster. We then go to the information desk to find out which court she is to appear in and they cannot find her in the system anywhere. They stamp the back of her slip to appear in court to show proof that she had been there. That was not enough. We proceed to D.A.’s office and inquire. They check the system and cannot find a record of her either. So, the D.A.’s office stamps her slip to appear, as well, to show that she was there on Oct. 1, 2004.
12) We then leave, confused and nervous.
13) The Orange County Sheriff’s website has an option to check for outstanding warrants. We check it and it shows nothing. Nothing until yesterday, when it pulls up a warrant for her arrest for the same thing she saw the public defender about. And now the bail amount has been increased by $5,000!!
14) She called the D.A.’s office back this morning about this. Now the D.A.’s office says the system indicates that the case is closed and that she has completed everything necessary! They even told her she can pick up a document stating this.
15) Needless to say, this has floored her. She is a) already out on bond for the same offense this new warrant shows, b) she was not on the roster to appear in court on the day she was ordered to go (Friday, Oct. 1, 2004), c) no one could find her in the system when she inquired before, d) the bail has been increased and e) she was never contacted about the warrant being issued and the bail being increased and knows nothing about it and f) NOW the D.A. says the matter is resolved and completed!!
16) She is now terrified and doesn’t know what to do. It appears to me their system is screwed up and the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. The D.A. shows the matter is resolved and yet the Sheriff’s Dept has issued a warrant for her arrest.

The questions are,

1) What should she do?
2) Can Orange County issue a bench warrant for her under the circumstances outlined above? She was never notified of any further appearances to make. This doesn't seem fair.
3) Orange County has things so messed up, might there now be a loop hole or technicality she might exploit to get out of this for good? )

This is quite confusing, and I hope the above is even understandable. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please ask. My ex is quite distraught over this.

Thanks a million …

I'll reply for all of them:

She was a moron who didn't pay her fines, pay up and get over it.

xith

Thanks, Xith. You were a great help ...

[BelizeBreeze]

Originally Posted by xith

I'll reply for all of them:

She was a moron who didn't pay her fines, pay up and get over it.

xith

The next time you post this crap say goodbye.

As to the issue at hand, have your ex contact an attorney to deal with the D.A.'s office.
A website and the D.A.'s system are two distinctly different animals and it's feesible that the website is updated manually.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by netbound

1) What should she do?

Hire an attorney to sort through it. Or, contact the issuing agency (either the sheriff or the probation department) and see what can be done to clear it up. It MAY be that she will need to appear in court to clear the matter up and that may require her to get taken in to custody on the warrant.

2) Can Orange County issue a bench warrant for her under the circumstances outlined above? She was never notified of any further appearances to make. This doesn't seem fair.

Apparently they CAN issue a warrant for it. Not knowing all the details, it's hard to say why a warrant was issued.

3) Orange County has things so messed up, might there now be a loop hole or technicality she might exploit to get out of this for good? )

Maybe. But you would likely need an attorney to wade through it.

- Carl

[stealth2]

You're a pretty cool ex to be helping her with all this. But honestly - she needs a lawyer to help sort this out.

Thanks BelizeBreeze,

That's a bit better ...

Hi,

And thanks EVERYONE, except xith.

She'd love to hire an attorney, but money's an issue at the moment, and so it's just not possible.

One more thing. When this happened back in 1996 she was young and made a foolish mistake. She wants to make it right now, but doesn't want to be crushed by the system. To me that's understandable. She did make her court appearance as ordered. Unfortunately, the other side didn't appear. If I were in her shoes I'd feel the same way.

Hello,

To make matters worse, tonight we received a letter from the bail bonds people stating that the court has pulled the bond for failure to appear! Appear at what?!!? The court has not sent anything to us indicating another appearance. It's funny to me that the court can send info to the bail bondsman, but cannot send anything to her!!

This whole thing has gotten out of hand. She calls the D.A. and they tell her one thing. Then we get this sort of thing in the mail! What's going on?

Can anyone shed any light on this, or what in the world to do?

Should she risk calling the bondsman and telling him she was never contacted by Orange County to make any further appearances? If she does, they might come out here to apprehend her and take her to jail. This is insane!!

Thanks in advance for your insight.

[CdwJava]

If the bond was revoked, there is either a warrant pending or it has been issued already. She needs to either surrender, or arrange for her attorney to contact the court Monday morning. It is NOT going to go away by wishful thinking or simple explanation.

And it could be that they have a different address for her so nothing was sent ... or, they informed her attorney who failed to communicate the date to her.

There could be any number of reasons why things got confused.

Bottom line is that she will have to either surrender or have an attorney arrange a new hearing date AND rescind the warrant and/or continue the bond.

- Carl

Houston, Texas
Your Ex definitely needs a lawyer! 1 thing she could do is get a non- arrest bond. That would keep her on the streets and hopefully into the 6 mo. program, which would really help her when she finally goes to court. snafus like ya'll had do not let her off the hook. Don't loose those papers u got stamped u r going to need them. The wheels of justice turn slowly unless your under them! PEACE AND GOOD LUCK-----------nitroeater

What is a "non-arrest bond"?


Thank you.