Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Bench warrant for not appearing in court with no summons served

My daughter, 20, had a bench warrant issued for not appearing in court. There was never a summons given to her - we were told her address was invalid, although it is listed publicly with the postal service, her college, her last residence and her parents had given it to a sherriffs deputy when asked (so he could serve the summons, I'm guessing). I, the parent, was told there was a summons, but wasn't told any other information by the police office because ''she was not a minor''. We tried to find out info. on it for 2 weeks with no success. We were told there was nothing in ''the system''. This was in May, 2006. A deputy showed up at our home (150 miles away) last week and said there was now a warrant out for her. Her dad went with her to turn herself in. They kept her for 24 hours due to setting up ''home confinement'' for this charge which we still don'tknow where it originates. We've contacted everyone in the clerk of the court (even her attorney has), but it's ''not in the system''. My question - how do they arrest someone for non appearing when they didn't know they were to appear in court? Don't they have to have proof of serving a summons? Please help..


Asked on 8/22/06, 5:34 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Stephen Cobb Cobb Criminal Defense Law Firm

Re: Bench warrant for not appearing in court with no summons served

You have raised an interesting issue: I just had one of those cases in my firm. As Richard Hornsby correctly put it, this happens frequently. Frankly, I favor a massive fine against the ageny responsibe, because that would put an end to it.

Frankly, some Clerk's Offices do an outstanding job, and some are, well, just awful. When mistakes are made, excuses are common - unless no one knows anything, which is more common.

In my recent case, the defendant had the notice sent to the wrong address. My client had a warrant out, so I was retained and took the client to court with me for a 'walk-in, walk-out' turn in on the warrant(I had to be there anyway on another case), the FTA warrant was recalled and the case was reset. The deputy clerk had quickly admitted the error prior to court and we were given a new notice with the correct address.

Not everyone is so fortunate: When it comes to criminal law, people are quick to judge harshly, and they do not care about fairness to a criminal defendant. In fact, Florida just ended a 150 year old procedural right to make it easier to get convictions - whether or not it is fair.

Read more
Answered on 8/23/06, 9:09 am
Richard Hornsby Richard E. Hornsby, P.A.

Re: Bench warrant for not appearing in court with no summons served

Generally this occurs when one or more attempts have been made to notice someone at their last known address, which is whatever address they had on fie (it could have been input worng).

Then the State Attorney requests a warrant be issued because a summons is not working. While unfortunnate, it is still very commmon.

If you are in the Orlando area I would be able to help you. Please feel free to call me with any questions.

Read more
Answered on 8/22/06, 7:23 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Florida