Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

failure to appear for sentencing on a DUI charge

What should a person do if they failed to appear in court for sentencing on a felony DUI charge, with injuries,due to illness but have no doctor's paperwork to prove the illness and live another state other than California and could not take public transportation to get to the California courts, from another state, on the court appointed date due to illness. This person made an attempt to contact the Public Defender after the arrest warrants were issued, by email, and is awaiting a response but it has already been 5 working days since the warrants were issued and no response from the Public Defender as of today. What steps should this person take to show sincere intent to appear? If this person does nothing further, what are the results?


Asked on 4/30/05, 8:35 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: failure to appear for sentencing on a DUI charge

There is now a felony arrest warrant on you. Any contact with police will result in arrest and transport to the court issuing it. Contact the PD by phone and discuss with them how you will get to court ASAP. You are not showing good faith to the court by delaying.

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Answered on 5/02/05, 1:02 pm
Philip Iadevaia Law Offices of Philip A. Iadevaia

Re: failure to appear for sentencing on a DUI charge

An arrest warrant for failure to appear is meant to get you into court. If you show up in court voluntarily, that will show the court good faith, and it should not jail you, unless your sentence calls for jail time. Since you failed to appear for sentencing, I am assuming you entered a plea of guilty or no contest. If you're out of state and can't get to the court, it is your obligation to inform the court of that circumstance. You've already emailed the Public Defender, but you should draft a pleading for filing with the court and serve it by mail on both the DA and Public Defender. If you do nothing, that will only make matters worse. You could be picked up in the state your in and held without bail and extradited back to California to face sentencing. If that happens, the court will show you little or no mercy. You have to act voluntarily. Good Luck.

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Answered on 4/30/05, 2:52 pm


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