Legal Question in Criminal Law in California
Turning myself in regarding a warrant
I was ticketed for being in a Santa Monica park 2 minutes before it opened. I failed to appear and a warrant has been issued. I found online that I can be charged up to a $1000 fine for this or the judge might order jail time. I want to fly back to LA to stand in court and get this over with, but I'm curious how much the time the judge can give me or how much it would take to offset the full $1000 fine, if thats what I end up getting.
4 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Turning myself in regarding a warrant
Hire one of us to go to court and handle it, save your air fare.
Re: Turning myself in regarding a warrant
If this ticket is relatively new, and you do not live here, you might consider hiring a lawyer. A lawyer would make it unnecessary for you to appear and would make it unlikely that you would get jail time. Resolution for a low fine (much less than $1000) is very much possible.
If interested, feel free to contact my office.
Jacek W. Lentz, Esq.
310.273.1361
www.lentzlawfirm.com
Re: Turning myself in regarding a warrant
Since it is for a misdemeanor, you could hire an attorney to appear for you and handle it without the expense of travel for you. For the cost of the attorney appearance fee, you might likely see the charges disposed of with a fine for the violation, and a fine for the warrant, all for a total of less than the $1000 bail on the warrant. Feel free to contact me if serious about getting counsel to do this.
Re: Turning myself in regarding a warrant
I would suggest that you contact the city attorney's office in Santa Monica and see what you can do to get this settled informally without the need for an appearance. You might find that they are not interested in putting you in jail or levying a tall fine when there are criminals to catch.
I am assuming that this was a city ordinance violation. Here are some contact numbers.
Marsha Jones Moutrie
City Attorney
Joseph Lawrence
Assistant City Attorney
1685 Main Street, Room 310
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.458.8336