What Happens When A Bench Warrant Is Issued
The bench warrant gives law enforcement the authority and direction to arrest the defendant and return him to court.
What happens when a bench warrant is issued. Instead when a bench warrant is issued it is entered into a statewide database that alerts law enforcement officers to the warrant. General arrest warrants are issued at the request of law enforcement when it believes a person has committed a crime. Arrest warrants can be issued at any time as long as the state can meet the statutory requirements.
If the state has evidence to believe a crime is going to be committed it can seek an arrest warrant and arrest any defendants before the crime is carried out. Penal code 813 c. In a bench warrant the judge authorizes law enforcement the authority to make an arrest from the bench and not from the judge s chambers.
A bench warrant can also be issued when a judge ordered a person to personally appear in court at a designated time and place but the person. Failing to appear is a punishable offense and a person can be jailed for a significant amount of time based on the type of crime or infraction they committed in addition to missing their court appointment. A bench warrant is very different from an arrest warrant.
However a bench warrant usually will not send the police out to look for the defendant. Similarly arrest warrants can also be issued after the commission of a crime. Most often the defendant has simply failed to show up.
In serious criminal cases a failure to appear will most likely lead to a regular arrest warrant which would spur immediate attempts to find and jail the defendant. Once a bench warrant is issued however the police can treat it like any other arrest warrant and use it to bring the defendant back in front of the judge. A bench warrant is typically issued in the case of a failure to appear for trial sometimes abbreviated fta the bench is the traditional term for the judge s seat.
Additionally a bench warrant may be either a criminal or a civil warrant. Bench warrants differ from general arrest warrants in two ways. The fta warrant is a type of bench warrant that is issued when a person has failed to appear in court or before a judge when subpoenaed or scheduled to do so.
A bench warrant is issued by a judge because you failed to appear in court. You were given a date for court and you didn t show up. Speaking more technically a bench warrant is issued by a judge when a defendant violates the rules of the court.
A person arrested on a general arrest warrant may post bail after the initial hearing but the person arrested on a bench warrant is often denied bail and considered a flight risk.
