Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Notice to Appear

Thanks for your posting.

With the increased caseload and lower budgets of prosecutors lately, it's becoming more common for the DA's office to not file cases on time. Because more serious felony cases also take priority, the misdemeanors often are put off.

In a case such as yours, you are normally sent a letter to the address shown on your ticket. The best way to handle this is to use the services of an attorney. At our firm, for example, our staff checks daily on a number of cases that are pending, to see if they've been filed, and then have an attorney show up on your behalf, as your agent, for any court dates. That way, you don't have a warrant issued for your arrest.

There are no guidelines, other than the requirement that a misdmeanor case be filed within one year from the date of the incident, that control in your case. If you don't hire an attorney, and if you are in the unfortunate situation of returning, and then calling and finding out there is an arrest, or finding out otherwise, then you should go to court promptly, and bring your letter, and travel documents as proof that you were not aware of the court date, and did not intentionally miss the date.

If you'd like legal representation, feel free to call me or email anytime at [email protected]. I'm happy to help in any way that I can.

Re: Notice to Appear

You don't say where you are, but your zip code suggests Los Angeles. If so, any letter that goes out, citing you to court in the future, will almost always be at least 30 days in the future. So if you're gone for 2 weeks, don't worry. If you're going to be gone for a longer period of time, maybe you do want, as Mr. Miller suggests, to have a lawyer look after it for you. I'd be happy to talk to you about it if you'd like. Good luck. Steve Mandell 310 393 0639