In this video, a British tourist has a few too many while on holiday in the Hamptons and gets a misdemeanor criminal charge for pissing in public behind the bar. He’s given a citation and a court date – well after he’ll have been back in Birmingham.
How would this affect him if he decided to return to the US at some point in the future? Like, if he landed at Kennedy, would the ICE agent see a warrant for his arrest and call the cops? Would word of his crime make it to Immigration before he even tried to return, and he’d be preemptively forbidden from coming to the US until he paid his fine?
This probably happens all the time with tourist everywhere, he should be able to just plead guilty and pay a fine now or wait until he is home and pay it. I’ve paid off a traffic light ticket in Germany so that I’d still be able to rent a car when I went back. He should take care of this before he tries to come back is my answer.
If he doesn’t, I doubt that a misdemeanor will keep him from getting entry. But if he gets picked up for anything when he returns there is the possibility of an outstanding warrant waiting for him. Take care of it now or possibly ruin a second vacation.
I know I can’t see any warrants from other states unless they are entered into NCIC. As far as I know CBP looks at the federal system and not at the individual state systems. Every warrant for every state is not entered into NCIC. However I do know they look for warrants when you come into the country. I was traveling with a group that had a guy named Richard Smith. He was pulled out of line and thrown into a dank cell (or an office) until they confirmed he wasn’t one of the many Richard Smiths with warrants. He said it happens every time he comes back into the country.
I’ve heard stories of people being turned back from the USA for just admitting they’d smoked pot once in their life. (OK, the guy in the article was going to Burning Man, hence the CBP question). He admits to doing something that’s illegal in the USA and Canada at the time (possession) and that’s sufficient to turn him away. Technically, they can do anything at the border except deny entry to Americans with the proper documentation. So I guess your question, which perhaps Loach helps answer - is would they know about the warrant?
I have never been hassled about the one speeding ticket I got in Idaho, but them I paid it through the mail from home. And AFAIK a traffic ticket is not even a misdemeanor - but failing to appear or pay the fine might be?
(Which makes the moral outrage about Greiner seem a little hypocritical, since I’ve also read about people in the USA being charged for the residue in their hash pipe…)
In my state violators from out of state (or out of the country) are made to post bond before they are released. The bond is the same as the fine amount so if they don’t show up for court it’s considered a stipulation of guilt and the bond is kept as the fine. Case closed.
That, of course, is for petty/traffic offenses. More serious crimes that may involve jail time the judge may set a much higher bail or maybe even hold a foreign visitor without bail until trial.
We don’t have cash bail except for bench warrants for failure to appear/contempt of court.
For most offenses it’s presumed to go on a summons. Criminal warrants are always no bail go directly to jail. A judge has to determine within 48 hours of they are to remain in jail, be let out or have some sort of monitoring.
Wisconsin is not a member of the National Drivers Compact. So if I were to write an out of state violator a cite there is no way to enforce it if they skip and don’t pay.
If that were to happen they would be issued a Wisconsin license electronically. Then it would be suspended. That way if they came back and got pulled over again they’d not only have a warrant for the first unpaid ticket, they’d have a second charge of driving after suspension.
But none of that happens real often unless you get a cop that’s too lazy to take the out of stater into custody and put through booking.
Some departments have credit card machines in their squads so the violator can post bond right there on the side of the road and doesn’t have to be booked.
ETA: Almost forgot. All this only pertains to violators that live in states that do not border Wisconsin. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, and for some reason Indiana drivers can be cited and released.
I once represented a famous musician that blew off a shop lifting charge in another state. He was at SeaTac trying to fly to Japan to start an international tour, but either the US or Japanese authorities wouldn’t let him fly (I don’t recall which). I was hired to clear it up, as fast as possible.
For at least the last 30 years it would have to be extremely extraordinary circumstances for anyone to be arrested for a motor vehicle violation in New Jersey. Like there would have to be multiple suspensions and FTAs on record. I’m leaving DWI out of the equation it’s kind of it’s own thing. For the last few years since bail reform it’s not legally possible to arrest for a motor vehicle violation. I doesn’t matter if you only have a Tibetan drivers license and say you are flying home tomorrow. You are getting a ticket and told to have a nice day.
We also generate a violators DL number and it will get suspended if they don’t come to court. If they eventually do come back and get pulled over again it’s possible they would have a bench warrant. Or they would get a ticket again and told to have a nice day.
I was visiting a relative in Idaho (hence the speeding ticket there). I met one of her friends, who commuted between Idaho and California seasonally, and mentioned she no longer drove through Oregon because she had several outstanding speeding tickets she wasn’t going to pay.
My ticket was in the days before most jurisdictions took credit cards, when if you paid at a gas station, they might take out a photocopied booklet of invalid credit cards to check against. It was about that time that I encountered the first dial-up credit card validations. Before that, over $X stores had to phone in an authorization. I mailed Idaho a money order since my bank was Canadian.
In the US, “bar” can refer to either a counter from which alcoholic drinks are served, or the entire establishment that serves drinks. I guess in the UK, the latter is usually called a “pub”.