Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

It depends. Misdemeanor or felony theft? What is your record? How long has the warrant been out? Why was it issued - because you missed a court date or because they just decided to file charges against you?

Your best bet is to discuss this in greater depth face to face with a local criminal defense attorney.

No way of answering without all the facts, underlying charges, priors history, etc. And, whatever the chances, that is up to the judge at the hearing, not based upon the attorneys 'opinion'.

To properly handle warrants, you must turn yourself into the issuing court, with or without an attorney, and try to negotiate a recall of the warrant[s] and a plea bargain on the new �Failure to Appear� charge. You�ll try to negotiate bail reduction or OR release. You�ll try to negotiate a plea bargain or take to trial the outstanding charges that caused the warrant. Turning yourself in voluntarily will result in a better outcome than being brought in cuffs to court after arrest on the warrant. On felony charges, the defendant must be personally present at every court hearing and appearance. On misdemeanors and infractions, the attorney can appear in court without the defendant being present, and any plea bargain deal could be handled by notarized paperwork. Effective plea-bargaining, using whatever legal defenses, facts and sympathies there may be, could possibly keep you out of jail/prison, or at least dramatically reduce it. Unless you're competent to effectively represent yourself in court against a professional prosecutor trying to put you in jail, most people hire an attorney who can.

If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me.