Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

Re: warrant info for WA

A �fugitive warrant� is a very specific type of warrant. Generally, it is a warrant authorizing the taking into custody of a person who has fled from one state to another to avoid prosecution or punishment for crime. Each state has a delineated process for issuing fugitive warrants and separate process for honoring them. The process of validating an out-of-state fugitive warrant and sending the wanted person back is called �interstate extradition.�

The United States Constitution in Article IV, � 2 deals with interstate extradition. It states� �A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.� This constitutional provision has been implemented by Congress and is codified under 18 U.S.C. � 3182.

In Washington State, the courts follow a legal process in extradition proceedings to decide whether the fugitive warrant is valid. To be valid, there must be a finding that� (1) The person sought was charged before a proper judicial officer of the demanding state with the commission of an extraditable crime, (2) That the person was present in the demanding state on the date the alleged crime was committed, and (3) That the person thereafter left the state. This is a formal legal proceeding, but the person who is arrested on the out-of-state fugitive warrant can waive it. This is called �waiving extradition.�

Now as far as issuing a warrant that seeks a person in another state, under Washington State law (RCW 10.88.010), only the Governor can issue such warrants. That is to say �for example - if a Skagit County District Court judge issues a warrant for a charged but not yet convicted person who has gone to Idaho, this warrant is valid but only inside Washington. It�s called a non-extraditable warrant. But if Governor Locke issues the warrant, then under Federal law and the Constitution, it is a �fugitive warrant� and the person can be arrested in Idaho or whatever state he or she may be located. Once arrested, Idaho will undertake its own process of validating the warrant and deciding whether the person should be sent back to Washington.

I hope that this is helpful. As you can see, your simple question asks about complicated legal processes. If you are the subject of a fugitive warrant, you should try to deal with it without legal counsel.