What happens if you miss a court date because you are in jail?

0 votes
asked Dec 24, 2021 in Law/Ethics by figgynewton (1,180 points)
What happens if you miss a court date because you are in jail?

1 Answer

0 votes
answered Dec 24, 2021 by VogT (470 points)
If you miss a court date because you're in a jail somewhere else that is not in the same jurisdiction as the court then the court will recall the warrant issued against you and dismiss the proceeding instituted against your bailor, if any.

It will also issue a production warrant to the jail authorities to produce you before the court on the next date.

However if you're in the same jail that your court has jurisdiction over then you'll usually be taken to the court or appear on video for your court date from the jail.

So if you have court and you're being held in jail then you can and usually will appear in court if it's the same court as the jail.

You can reschedule a court date as long as you reschedule the court date before 48 hours before the court date.

If it's 48 hours or less before your court date then you cannot reschedule the court date.

You must appear in court to reschedule your court date.

The only person who can grant a change of court date is a municipal court judge or other judge; however, court dates WILL NOT be changed within 48 hours of the scheduled appearance.

To request a court date change, you must appear on the Court's Walk-In docket.

If you have a warrant for missing court you need to speak with an attorney who can then speak with the judge about your missed court date.

Or if you have no attorney then the best thing to do would be to show up to the jail get arrested, booked and then bond out if you can afford to bond out.

Eventually the police will find you and arrest you for the warrant and turning yourself in is the best thing you can do if you don't have an attorney.

Failure to appear for court is often the result of a mistake.

Many times, your attorney can go to the judge, explain the mistake, and the judge will withdraw the warrant.

If you already missed your court date, the best thing to do is contact your attorney and explain why you missed your court date.

If you miss court twice a bench warrant will be issued by the judge for failure to appear in court.

Then when you get stopped and your drivers license is checked the warrant will show up and the police will arrest you on the spot and take you to jail.

Then you sit in jail until the judge decides to either increase your bail amount or even revoke your bail amount and then you'll sit in jail until your court date arrives to ensure you appear.

If you miss your court date then the judge issues a bench warrant for your arrest.

The bench warrant allows the police to arrest you on the spot and take you to jail for failure to appear in court.

Then you'll be held until you're granted bail.

Then if you miss your court date again the judge may not set bail the second time and may have you held in jail without bail until your next court date.

If you miss your court date you need to contact the court and let them know why you missed the court date and then see if you can get the court date rescheduled.

If you have a warrant then you should appear at the jail and turn yourself in and then bond out and then make sure to appear in court the next time.

You must appear in court on your scheduled court dates or the judge will issue a bench warrant.

If you have a good reason to miss the court date then you need to let the judge know beforehand.

Never ignore the court date as it will just make things worse on you.

98,443 questions

94,708 answers

1,269 comments

6,992,358 users

...