I never knew that someone pressed charges on me, help !!!!

[tamijo]

should i have gone to jail?

california
i called the police to come and help me and when they got to my house they already knew my name, they asked me if i was tammy and i said yes and then the one officer told me that i was under arrest for an outstanding felony warrent. i couldn't believe what i was hearing. i have never been in trouble with the law before in my life, so when he said that i had a felony warrent i asked him for what, and he said for a fta(failure to appear). i asked him a fta for what and he said that charges were filed against me last december for spousal abuse, and they were filed by the district attorney and since you never showed up at court for this matter a warrent was issued on you and it took effect on 1/29/01. i am so shocked because i never new that i had these charges got filed against me. i never recieved anything in the mail or i never received a phone call also i never had any papers served to me telling me that i had to go to court because i had charges filed against me. if i would had known about this i would have taken care of it when i was suppost to. i found out that the district attorney filed these charges cause my husband had a scratch on his ear from me. he got the scratch because he had me in a choke hold and he was choking me and i couldnt breathe i was trying to get away. when i finally got away my husband told me that he was calling the police and that he was going to press charges against me and that i will be taken away to jail if i was here when the cops arrived. well i took off and the cops came and my husband told them that he didnt want to file any charges against me and that we wanted to try to work things out between us. so after they left i came back home and my husband & i went on with our live's together. my question to anyone who might know the answer, i never recieved any notice that i had these charges filed against me so i didnt know about any court date that i was suppost to go to. how can i have these charges filed against me that turned into a felony warrent without me recieving any paper work or any other kind of notice like a phone call or even an officer showing up at my home to let me know. what are my legal rights? i just dont understand how is a person suppost to take care of something when they know nothing about it. please if there is someone out there who can help me out i would appreciate your help so much. thank-you. tammy

[Edited by tamijo on 07-19-2001 at 01:52 AM]

 

[sinfulangel]

Your husband had to of told them the entire story and then whether or not he wanted to file charges, the state can choose to pick it up, meaning charge you regardless. so you were aware of the report and should of followed through is what the police will tell you. unfortunatly you have fallen victim of a loop hole where you can be charge with it no matter what your husband said....