With all due respect, I do not agree that this should have been closed. If you think I am asking for legal advice, you are incorrect. It is pretty obvious what he has to do about his warrants, and in fact, next paycheck, they will be completely paid off. I don’t really perceive, “Can he get an ID without being arrested?” as advice, but if it matters anyway, he will definitely not be doing that, for the reasons that he’ll be legal and getting his driver’s license back so soon, and like I said, he’s paranoid. I really don’t see how a simple question about jurisdiction can be deemed legal advice any more than questioning whether or not carrying swords or guns in public could be. If I broke another rule without realizing it, then that’s my mistake, but I don’t think I did.
You might try to re-post using a more neutral question:
“Does a warrant sworn out in a county or municipality for unaddressed traffic violations or unpaid fines have force outside the county or municipality? In other words, if one of those “automatic” warrants for not paying fines is issued by a traffic court in a city or county, are other cities and counties made aware of it and will police in those other places in the state arrest a person who comes to their attention?”
I think your buddy still needs a lawyer, if for no other reason than that it might very well vary from state to state, but my phrasing is looking for general applications of the law rather than specific legal advice.
(And in Ohio, I’m pretty sure he would be busted. OTOH, I am not a lawyer and you cannot rely on my WAG.)
snailboy, although the warrants will likely be “regional”, they WILL be reported to DPS and if he tries to renew his license (or get an ID card) he will be arrested.
Most drivers’ licenses are issued by the state, so he’d have to go to a different state. But even then, the states exachange information, so it wouldn’t work. And some counties only arrest a felony from another county. I don’t see why he shouldn’t just make some money, pay them off, and do it the ligit way
There seems to be confusion as to why I’m asking. Let me make it clear that your responses will have no effect on the outcome of the situation. He has had a well-paying job for a few weeks and has already paid off all but one warrant. The other one will be paid off this week. He is very happy to be paying them off and is not looking for a way around it because all of the locations are places he travels to a lot. And since it will only be next week when he is legal, he is not going to try to obtain an ID card (non-driver’s license, I know obviously he can’t just go to another county and get his license back). It’s just that I told him yesterday he should have already gotten one, and it turned into an argument. So I’m not going to ask again here, but mods, would it be alright if I posted once again in GQ with a less specific question, like tomndebb said. It is simply to ask about the jurisdiction without any affect on his actions. Hell, I’ll wait until next week when he’s legal if you desire.
