California
So I go to the DMV today to get my permit, stand in line for two hours, only to be told that I owe the county $860 dollars for a Failure to Appear and a Failure to Pay. This is an infraction from a protest when they removed all the ash trays in the plaza and I, trying to be responsible, rolled the cherry of my cigarette into a puddle in the gutter and placed the butt in my pocket. I was immediately swarmed by several cops and given a ticket for throwing a lit substance into the street. I plead not guilty to this charge in November of 2011 and decided to take it to trial. When calling to confirm my trial date, I was informed that there was nothing in the system related to the case, meaning the DA had chosen not to proceed with the charge. Since then, I have called and checked online and no warrant has ever come up, aside from that, nothing was ever sent to my mailing address notifying me of this warrant. I'm wondering how this could've happened and what I can do to fix it. The only issue is I'm homeless and have no income which from what I gathered means I must serve time to satisfy my fines.
I've also been ticketed in AZ since then and had the charges dropped, paper in hand for that one, but my "warrant" didn't come up at that point. I've also crossed the International Border between Mexico and California and had my name ran upon re-entry both times without anything being said. I also have had my name ran by Border Patrol at the border between Arizona and California and nothing came up. I'm so confused as to how this could've happened and I'm just now finding out.
If someone could give me a factual breakdown on best case/worst case scenarios and my possible avenues of action.
So I go to the DMV today to get my permit, stand in line for two hours, only to be told that I owe the county $860 dollars for a Failure to Appear and a Failure to Pay. This is an infraction from a protest when they removed all the ash trays in the plaza and I, trying to be responsible, rolled the cherry of my cigarette into a puddle in the gutter and placed the butt in my pocket. I was immediately swarmed by several cops and given a ticket for throwing a lit substance into the street. I plead not guilty to this charge in November of 2011 and decided to take it to trial. When calling to confirm my trial date, I was informed that there was nothing in the system related to the case, meaning the DA had chosen not to proceed with the charge. Since then, I have called and checked online and no warrant has ever come up, aside from that, nothing was ever sent to my mailing address notifying me of this warrant. I'm wondering how this could've happened and what I can do to fix it. The only issue is I'm homeless and have no income which from what I gathered means I must serve time to satisfy my fines.
I've also been ticketed in AZ since then and had the charges dropped, paper in hand for that one, but my "warrant" didn't come up at that point. I've also crossed the International Border between Mexico and California and had my name ran upon re-entry both times without anything being said. I also have had my name ran by Border Patrol at the border between Arizona and California and nothing came up. I'm so confused as to how this could've happened and I'm just now finding out.
If someone could give me a factual breakdown on best case/worst case scenarios and my possible avenues of action.
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