Criminal Records, Expungement Assesment of Risks regarding Flight from conviction

[cocaputt]

Accessment of risks regarding 'failure to appear'...

A young woman (28) friend of mine was recently arrested for a Class B Misdemeanor for Theft (above $50.00 valued - below $500.00 value). The crime was actually committed by her boyfriend who stole a table from a bar and threw it in her car. Upon confrontation, the boyfriend fled the scene, leaving the girl and her ownership of the car responsible for the stolen item.

She is exploring options regarding the resolution for this situation. She can either pay a fine of $1,000.00 or do a small bit of jail time, however the theft will be on her record.

To top it off she has plans to move in 2 weeks to NYC where she plans to apply for some top notch Grad schools and this entanglement not only will risk her move but perhaps her approval of admission. Although she has been soliciting lawyers for advice, I am curious about the risks she undertakes if she ignores the entire ordeal and moves on as planned.

What is the statute of limitations regarding an arrest warrant for failure to appear in court for a case like this? Will she be in jeopardy in NYC if she gets in trouble because a warrant from Travis County may appear on her record? Or will NYPD even be able to tell (or care) that she has a warrant out for a petty theft in TX? After a certain period of time, will the warrant disappear and the case be closed?

I am primarily interested in this route for her because it will keep her from being formally convicted in any way and avoid the risk of having this silly thing on her record. It seems that the risk of 'going on the lamb' may be much smaller considering the distance from TX, the petty nature of the crime, and the nature of statute of limitations for her warrant.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated!

 

[NYClex]

Do you seriously believe that an outstanding warrant looks better on a record than a conviction that was dealt with? Her status will be "fugitive", that does not really sound good on any application.

While the NYPD might not send all their ESU looking for her right away, her warrant would be in the national system and a simple warrant check for whatever little violation would lead to her arrest.

Also you might not be familiar with many states' provisions that absence from the state will toll a statute of limitations, meaning that the time out of state does not count.

So in my humble opinion it would be pretty stupid to run from the law.

 

[cmlzip]

You are obviously ignorant as to many facts of the law and that is not an insult. it's just something I see that needs addressing. Okay, firstly, I would very much like to know more about the details of the crime that happened. If the boyfriend just went into a bar and stole a table, then ran outside and put it in his girlfriend's car while she is in the car and then he runs off and the cops dawn at the scene, that sounds like a huge coincidence. Regardless, the cops would not have arrested her if they knew about the boyfriend. They would have at least made contact with him to straighten out the facts or talk to the bartender and ask for their input. Something just doesn't sound right.

Anyway, let's get on to the particulars of the law now. I need to know how you think that you (she) will only be given either $1000 fine or some jail time? Who told you this because it is not true. So you said that this girl would possibly be moving to NYC and wondered if she was stopped there at anytime, would her warrant come up? Yes, all of the police in all 50 states now are linked through computers in their squad cars and warrants will pop up. If you miss court all together for this, the judge will issue a contempt of court bench warrant on you. There is no statute of limitations once this occurs because you have disrespected the courts. So now you have the theft charge and you'll have a new charge to deal with called, contempt of court. Now, as for you wanting to go "on the lamb" to run from this petty little crime so that it won't be on your record and employers won't see it, it's already TOO LATE. See, the legal system works this way....Anything you are merely arrested for (if you are innocent or not) will ALWAYS remain on your permanent record. YOU must hire a lawyer and file for expungement to get the charge removed from your criminal record. Otherwise it stays there and any employer who does a background check can see it.

Let me know the details of the actual events of the crime.

 

[cmlzip]

You are obviously ignorant as to many facts of the law and that is not an insult. it's just something I see that needs addressing. Okay, firstly, I would very much like to know more about the details of the crime that happened. If the boyfriend just went into a bar and stole a table, then ran outside and put it in his girlfriend's car while she is in the car and then he runs off and the cops dawn at the scene, that sounds like a huge coincidence. Regardless, the cops would not have arrested her if they knew about the boyfriend. They would have at least made contact with him to straighten out the facts or talk to the bartender and ask for their input. Something just doesn't sound right.

Anyway, let's get on to the particulars of the law now. I need to know how you think that you (she) will only be given either $1000 fine or some jail time? Who told you this because it is not true. So you said that this girl would possibly be moving to NYC and wondered if she was stopped there at anytime, would her warrant come up? Yes, all of the police in all 50 states now are linked through computers in their squad cars and warrants will pop up. If you miss court all together for this, the judge will issue a contempt of court bench warrant on you. There is no statute of limitations once this occurs because you have disrespected the courts. So now you have the theft charge and you'll have a new charge to deal with called, contempt of court. Now, as for you wanting to go "on the lamb" to run from this petty little crime so that it won't be on your record and employers won't see it, it's already TOO LATE. See, the legal system works this way....Anything you are merely arrested for (if you are innocent or not) will ALWAYS remain on your permanent record. YOU must hire a lawyer and file for expungement to get the charge removed from your criminal record. Otherwise it stays there and any employer who does a background check can see it.

Let me know the details of the actual events of the crime.

 

[cocaputt]

More details:

The boy (who happens to be my brother) was at the bar with his girlfriend. He and another friend take her car keys and ''as a drunken prank'' steal an end table from the bar at closing time and put it in her trunk. She comes out of the restroom and they are gone and so she goes out to her car. They are inside waiting on her and tell her to drive.

By the time she has the keys back from them, the bartenders confront the three of them in the parking lot and grab her keys out of the ignition (window was down). They proceeded to get out their cellphones and called the police at which time, my brother and his friend (both with previous problems w/ the law) take off. So, this girl is left there with a table in her car and the bartenders accuse her of being ''in on it'' - police arrive, she tells the police that she was not a part of it, but they arrest her and charge her for theft anyway.
And you're mistaken: the cops arrested her, despite the knowledge of the boyfriend. Survellience cameras all over the bar and parking lot would show her ignorance of the crime, yet the bartenders insisted upon her guilt and demanded her arrest.

When she spoke to a judge prior to her release from custody, he informed her that a $1,000.00 fine or a bit of jail time would resolve the situation enough to avoid probation, however - the payment of the fine would be (in essence) an admission of guilt and so it would stick to her record.

There seems to be little options for her. Even if she volunteered the names of my brother and his friend (which in hindsight, they have asked her to do), she will most likely maintain her charge and then all three of them will be in trouble. A couple of lawyers have strongly suggested that regardless of any testimony in her defense of ignorance OR survellience on the scene, the fact that she was driving and it was her car, automatically make her not only an accomplice, but guilty of attempted theft herself.

What about options or avenues for plea bargains with the owners of the bar? (I hear he's an insane hard-ass) - But if this were possible, could a civil agreement warrant dismissal of formal charges? Any advice or recommendations? again, time is of the essence since she has Grad school plans...

Thankyou!

(P.S. -- see other postings under CRIMINAL LAW > GENERAL for other correspondence and to read other replies)!~

 

[cmlzip]

Trust me, if your brother and his friends come forward and lay all of the blame of that evening on themselves and say that she had no idea what was going on, the judge would have to rule in a dismissal of all of her charges.

A plea bargain is very likely. If she/you hires and attorney, he could get it plead down to petty theft perhaps. You could also ask a lawyer to request putting her on PTI (pre-trial intervention) so that the charge will only stay on her record for as long as her probationary period would last. She'd likely get community service and unsupervised probation, providing she has noprevious record.

 

[refusetostop]

One of the problems she faces if she just moves without taking care of the situation is an arrest warrant out of Texas. Police in NYC will be able to see that she has a warrant in TX and if stopped by any police she will be held for the warrant to be confirmed. If the warrant is confirmed and TX will extradite her back to TX then she will be placed in a jail in NYC and wait for transportation back to TX (not likely that TX will transport her back from NYC on these small charges). If they do not transport her back she will be released at the scene. This can be a hassle because the warrant will not go away. It will stay on the system until it is taken care of. Every time she is stopped she will go through this process of being held to confirm the warrant. If she is ever stopped close to TX they may extradite her back.

I would first contact the bar owner to see if he was the person that signed the warrants and work something out (he can talk to a judge to drop charges). If he did not sign the warrants and an officer did then hire a lawyer so he can subpoena the video and any other evidence that would work in her favor. If she needs to buy some time and she really did nothing wrong have your lawyer get the tapes and ask for a jury trial. That should give enough time for him to work out a deal with the DA.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

First of all, it is never a good idea to post the same message in several forums. You end up having one reply here, another there and there is no continuing discussion. Worse, it will irk any administrator who hopes to consolidate posts so that they are useful to readers and to yourself.

Honest, I perused the responses and I think that using just a little common sense should tell you that arrest warrants are not like an outstanding drycleaning ticket that you are waiting to pick up beyond the 30 days that they would hold it for in the store. An arrest warrant is a serious issue and ignoring it isn't going to make it go away and expect it to get worse. Dealing with it and hopefully making a deal for minimal problems is your best bet to learn from an ill advised prior action.