Arizona. Ok so here it is************** my step father was recently arested for a charge out of California(fresno county) for something called a "Fugitive of Justice Citation". He was recently released from prison for totally unrelated charges an served all of this parole, when an incident at his job required him to call the police and get someone trespassed off the property. When the police were seeing to the trespassing for the other person they checked his(my stepfather) I.D. Then they proceeded to tell him about this charge in California from 1996.(in which case he was not in California in 1996)
Just because the warrant was issued in 1996 doesn't necessarily mean that the crime or violation the warrant was issued for, also happened in 1996. It could relate to a case or a crime committed prior to that time.
The police officer told him the charge was non-expiditable and that he would give my step father a few days to figure it out before he had to come back to arrest him and hold him until California decided whether or not they would come and get him.
I'm not familiar with the term "non-expiditable" Could it have been "non-extraditable" or perhaps a no-bail warrant?
I'm sure Carl will read this thread and he would be far more familiar with the term you're referring to.
Anyways we researched into the charge from Fresno county and could not find a single thing pretaining to this charge. We did find other court things such his previous divorce and an old eviction hearing but that was all.
Did you try calling them on the telephone and asking about the warrant? Sometimes the on line information is not complete or not updated regularly, so you shouldn't rely on just what's available to the public over the Internet.
Ok so now the real question is whether or not the Arizona court can keep holding him for a charge that no one can find(ex: his work does a criminal background check prior to hiring so why didnt they see it and we searched the fresno county sherriffs department to see if the charges popped up which they didnt?) and that doesnt make any sense what so ever.
Yes, as long as the warrant comes up when his name is run through NCIC, every police agency is well within their right to take him into custody. As I said above, just because the warrant doesn't show up in the search you were able to do, or on the background check his employer did, doesn't mean it does not exist. Law enforcement has a much larger database and far more capabilities when it comes to running names for criminal records/active warrants.
Most agencies, upon receiving the information that someone has a warrant out for their arrest, will contact the agency who issued the warrant, to verify that the warrant is active and that they have the right person. This isn't necessarily always the case, but it doesn't do anyone any good to arrest the wrong subject.
Is there anything we can do to prove that he wasnt there and to help get him out? And should we be requesting a lawyer or will this ust need to be seen by the judge?
Again, just because he wasn't in Ca. on the date the warrant was issued, doesn't mean there's any error or that the warrant isn't justified.
I take it he's already in custody on this warrant?
If so, is there any bail amount that can be posted for his release?
You can certainly contact an attorney in the jurisdiction where the warrant was issued and have them look into the matter. But i would first try calling them myself and not just rely on the information posted on line.
Has there been an extradition hearing?
As I mentioned, Carl is the real expert in these areas. I'm sure if he reads this thread he will offer some good advice on what would be the best approach and where to start.
