Eh, IMO it’s none of our business whether he “did it” or not. Whether he’s another American Taliban, or kidnapped a six-year-old, or just has a truckload of unpaid parking tickets, it doesn’t signify, here in GQ, whether he’s guilty. All the question is, is, “What does this apparent arrest warrant I received through the mail mean?”
It means you need to talk to a lawyer, first thing in the morning.
DDG: I love the none of our business stuff. You go ahead and start me a list of people who don’t ask questions about things that are “none of their business” and make sure your name is on there.
While your doing that I’ll start writing out an essay on how it’s everyone’s job to answer people’s questions on the subject of their legal, deserved or not, woes. For free mind you. If anyone here was qualified to answer the question then chances are they paid a lot for the information (or mom and dad did) and they just got asked to do their job for free. Maybe people are happy to do their job for free, it’s no worse to ask them for that kind of help than to ask someone what their troube is.
IMO: you decide what’s your business and I’ll decide whats mine. Fact of the matter is legal action is any persons business in a free and democratic society and thats why if he is an adult there is typically disclosure of criminal cases.
You asked a question, w/o giving much information. You had two people suggest that more info would be helpful. you ignored both. I repeated it again, and you think I was irritated?
I suggest that you stop attempting to attribute motives/emotions to the responses you’re getting. So far you’re 0 for 2.
My son got a ‘notice of warrent issued’ mailed to him over a noise violation (a civil infraction, not criminal) which still could have gotten him taken into custody during a routine traffic stop. We contacted the court involved (vs. an attorney), and were advised to report in w/in a few days, we did, and got it handled w/a small fine. Had we not done that, I’ve no doubt that a warrent would have been issued and he’d have been subject to arrest (which again doesn’t mean that they’d really have sent a cop 20 miles to pick him up, just that if they tripped over him during a traffic stop or whatever, they’d have cause to take him in)
However, that was for a civil infraction/ an ordinance vs. criminal infraction. If you are genuinely concerned about being sent to jail vs. being fined (ie if you’re at all worried that it’s a criminal charge vs. ordinance), contact an attorney first thing Monday.
If $$ is a problem some attorneys will give a free consultation.
As a lawyer, I will be happy to offer you free, competent legal advice concerning this situation. Here it is:
Seek the advice of a lawyer licensed to pracice in your jurisdiction.
As many others have already noted, that’s the best course of action to follow. If there is a warrant for your arrest, mistakenly or not, you could spend hours behind bars while things are cleared up. Your lawyer will be able to steer you along the best course of action both for the warrant itself as well as the underlying charges.
I know you posted this looking for some immediate reassurance while everything was closed. But trust me when I saw that from everything from jaywalking to homicide, if the word ‘arrest’ is involved, the word ‘lawyer’ should be involved.
If it happens, by the way, that you are arrested, pursuant to this or any situation, please keep that in mind as well. “I want a lawyer,” should be the only words out of your mouth other than answering routine identification questions (name, address, SSN, DOB).
If every arrestee did this, defense lawyers would have a much easier life.
Not to challenge the legal accumen of the esteemed Mister Bricker, but IMHO you shouldn’t provide the police or any government agency with more information than they are legally entitled to. I don’t think SSN especially is one of those things, and my (non-lawyer) understanding is that once you clearly and unequicolly ask for a lawyer the police can’t ask you any additional questions, including “routine identification questions.”
FWIW, I also wouldn’t answer someone on a message board asking me if I committed a crime. Who knows who reads these boards, who has a duty to report, etc.?
Is this a bad time to suggest that you steal a fast car and a big handgun adn high-tail it into the desert? Maybe take a couple of hostages. Or a friend in need of some escape? Sort of a “Snooooopy and Louise” thing.
Is this a bad time to suggest that spending a night in jail may not be such a bad thing? Think of the stories you’ll have when you get out! Think of how much fun you can have when you meet your date’s parents for the first time:
Date’s Dad: How are you, son? (not to imply that you are dating your sister, but “son” is what date’s dads call the date.)
You: Much better now that I’m out of jail.
You can talk about your time in the stir, the big house, up the river, the Mountain View Marriott and your “friends” like the 380 lb weighlifter “Tiny” who claims he was set up for cubing his girlfriend and using a Seal-A-Meal[sup]TM[/sup] to dispose of her.
When times are rough or when you are in a heated argument with someone you can mutter, “When my friend Tiny makes parole we’ll ‘clear this matter up’.”
If someone gets mad at you, you can act all high and mighty and say things like, “Hey, I’ve done my time,” and. “I’ve paid my debt to society,” and things like that.
Just asking,
Spritle, who truly had nothing helpful to add and agrees that you should talk to a lawyer.
Easy:
"The Warrant of Arrest Notice issued by the court contains information on your warrant and how to take care of it. The information contained in this notice is the same information we have on file. No further information is available from our office.
The appearance times and location of the court will appear on your citation or on the Warrant of Arrest Notice. Appearance times vary by court." http://www.sdsheriff.net/csb/warrants.html
"How may I clear an outstanding arrest warrant?
When should I be at the courthouse if I want to appear on my warrant?
I understand why you may not want to acknowledge any action (or failure to act) in a public forum, considering there are apparently some kind of charges pending.
However, posting what you are charged with can in no way be construed as an admission of guilt or responsibilty, and may useful to giving advice. For instance, we can probably find out the maximum penalty you will face should you be judged guilty.
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Sort of, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. The police aren’t supposed to proceed with questioning once you’ve asserted your right to counsel, except for the basic questions to establish your identity. But often they’ll continue anyway, thinking (often knowing) they’ll get away with it. It is defense counsel’s job to expose this and make sure those statements are supressed and not used against the person who charged with the crime.
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Oh yeah. IANAL. But Mrs. Tonk is and deals with this very issue nearly every day.
That’s not quite so. The specific issue of a social security number aside for a moment, the rule established by Edwards and its progeny do say that the police must cease interrogation once a clear, unequivocal request for an attorney is made. But since the gravamen of this rule is Fifth Amendment’s protection against forced self-incrimination, identification questions such as your name, address, and date of birth are still permitted.
The issue of whether the authorities in that, or any case are entitled to your SSN are a bit more murky, and I’m afraid I don’t have time to write that post just now. But the rationale behind the rule does not prohibit identification questions, and they are permitted.
