Legal Question in DUI Law in Pennsylvania

When is it illegal to incarcerate a single parent?

I was arrested for drunk driving in 2000. A bench warrant was issued to me for a missed court date to discuss unpaid fines. I left the state to get my life together. I returned and called. I let the sherrif know I wanted to take care of the problem. Assuming that I may have atleast a night of jail time, I asked whether or not I was going to need to arrange child care. I asked numerous times. I was assured that since I had made an appointment and had decided to turn myself in, I would be out in 3-4 hrs. He assured me that even if they wanted to incarcerate me, they couldn't because of the lack of space in the jail. As planned, I showed up to meet with the sherrif. I was arrested and put into jail. Luckily, I had a friend who was willing to watch my son, but other parents may not have been so lucky without prior arrangements made for their kids. Because of the sherrif's lack of honesty, many could unnecessarily end up in foster care. Is there any law against lying to individuals with misdemeanors who are attempting to take care of the legal problem, and need to arrange for childcare? Or is it illegal to arrest a single parent in this circumstance. Their should be an ethics code in dealing with single parents with children.


Asked on 7/19/04, 2:56 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Re: When is it illegal to incarcerate a single parent?

Mr. Pascal is right. Sorry you needed to get an atty to protect your rights, but that's what lawyers do. People complain about lawyers (I have to admit I love lawyer jokes & I collect them), but people go to lawyers to protect themselves, or to keep what they have to 'pay' for their mistakes to a minimum. Had you gone to a lawyer, he would have arranged for you to turn yourself in so that after processing, a judsge would be available, and you could either have a 'plea' worked out ahead of time, or you could be bailed out until you had to appear again to work out an arrangement. Courts are NOT meanspirited when someone has a problem, and then wants to go and 'fix' their transgressions. They want to impress how seriously the state takes DUI, the accidents that can occur, and then pat you on the back for trying to clean up your life, and encourage you by threatening you with stiffer penalties in the future.

Do yourself a favor, and find an atty! Lawyers are 'scum', until you actually see all the good we do!

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Answered on 7/20/04, 12:15 pm
Charles A. Pascal, Jr. Law Office of Charles A. Pascal, Jr.

Re: When is it illegal to incarcerate a single parent?

It is certainly not illegal to arrest a single parent, or anyone else, who has an outstanding bench warrant. When you "turned yourself in," what you did was showed up to be arrested. That's what they had to do.

No, it's not illegal to lie to someone. Actually, the lie was that they made you a guarantee at all...the sheriff couldn't really know what would happen after you were arrested on the bench warrant. If they notified the judge immediately after they arrested you and the judge was not available, they would have had no choice but to put you in jail until the judge could vacate the warrant.

Your mistake was not hiring an attorney who could make sure that arrangements were made in advance to get you through the process, from sheriff to arrest to being in front of a judge, in a few hours.

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Answered on 7/19/04, 4:26 pm


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