Warrant and restitution??

[bruhaha]

First I would like to say thanks to anyone who chooses to help. I am 24 and about 3 years ago I was involved in a car accident in Sioux Falls South Dakota. I had been drinking and had no car insurance. I took a plea deal on the DUI and was ordered to pay restitution for the damages caused to the truck. Total cost was around $6000. Around a $1000 was for fines and the remaining $5000 was restitution. I immediately paid all the fines in full. The restitution however was on a payment plan. I was paying anywhere from 50-100 dollars a month. I did this for about a year. I than moved out of state and being the immature irresponsible person I was back then I stopped paying on the restitution. About 7 months after that I received a letter from the county notifying me of a warrant for my arrest. The warrant states that I am required to pay $4256. From what I understand; pay the fine and it goes away. However $4500 is more than I can just cut a check for. So the question is; what avenues can i take to get back on a payment plan? Is it possible to settle for a smaller amount?

[Blue Meanie]

Originally Posted by bruhaha

First I would like to say thanks to anyone who chooses to help. I am 24 and about 3 years ago I was involved in a car accident in Sioux Falls South Dakota. I had been drinking and had no car insurance. I took a plea deal on the DUI and was ordered to pay restitution for the damages caused to the truck. Total cost was around $6000. Around a $1000 was for fines and the remaining $5000 was restitution. I immediately paid all the fines in full. The restitution however was on a payment plan. I was paying anywhere from 50-100 dollars a month. I did this for about a year. I than moved out of state and being the immature irresponsible person I was back then I stopped paying on the restitution. About 7 months after that I received a letter from the county notifying me of a warrant for my arrest. The warrant states that I am required to pay $4256. From what I understand; pay the fine and it goes away. However $4500 is more than I can just cut a check for. So the question is; what avenues can i take to get back on a payment plan? Is it possible to settle for a smaller amount?

Since you have already proven to the Judge that you will not make the required payments, I sincerely doubt s/he would allow another payment plan or cut a deal on the amount.

Likely what will happen is you will be kept in jail until the amount is paid in full.

[Dougthegreat]

Consider the judge's perspective here. You have a person who:

1) Was irresponsible enough to drive without car insurance
2) Was irresponsible enough to drive drunk and endanger lives
3) Was irresponsible enough to stop making restitution after personally agreeing to make a payment plan

If you were a judge in this situation, would you "settle" for a lower amount or cut a deal? Or would you throw the deadbeat loser into the clink until he learned his lesson?