For anyone who is charged with a crime or issued a traffic ticket, you may be ordered to appear in court. It is possible for you to be required to appear a few times during a criminal case for a few things such as arraignment, pretrial conference, hearing, trial, sentencing, or another proceeding. Everything will depend on the charges.
A notice, which is also known as a summon, to appear is a court order. If you get summoned to court but you are thinking of not going, you may be wondering what will happen to you. So, what will happen if you get summoned to court and do not go?
Apparently, every state has their own laws. It means the answer to the question can vary, depending on the state. In general, you get summoned to court but you fail to appear, you could be charged with a few things, such as:
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- Failure to appear
In a lot of states, failure to appear in court is its own offense. This one is usually a misdemeanor.
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- Bail jumping
It is possible for the bail jumping to be applied when a defendant who is out of bails appears in court. Usually, these kinds of penalties correspond to the underlying offense, including felony bail jumping for felony charges and misdemeanor bail jumping for misdemeanor charges.
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- Contempt of court
Contempt of court is the term that is used to call failing to obey a court order. It is usually counted as a misdemeanor crime.
Not only you will be charged with a crime, if you fail to appear in court, they can take a number of different actions, which include:
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- Issue a bench warrant
If you cannot appear in court when you are summoned, a warrant can be issued by the judge for your arrest. After it is issued, do not get surprised if you are taken into custody at any time. For example, during a routine traffic stop, the information about the warrant can be accessed in the computer system of the state by the police and they take you into custody. If the case is serious, the police may also be asked by the judge to go to your place or workplace to enforce the warrant. When you are in custody, it is possible for you to stay in jail until a hearing on your failure to appear in court.
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- Jail sentence and fines
In the case when you are found guilty of failure to appear in court, bail jumping, or contempt of court, a judge can impose a jail sentence or fines. Keep in mind that the sentence for this kind of crime can be added to the sentence imposed for the underlying offense.
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- Driver’s license suspension
If you live in a certain state, your driver’s license can be suspended if you fail to appear in court. Your driver’s license will be suspended and there is no way for you to use it, at least until you appear before a judge to address the failure to appear in court.
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- Bail revocation or change in conditions of release
In case you did not ask to post a bond in the previous court and you get released on your own recognizance, your conditions of release can be changed by the judge. They can do it by imposing a bond. The statement means you will need to deposit money with the court if you want to be released from custody while your case is pending. For anyone who posted bail in your criminal case, the bail amount can be increased. Not only that, it is also possible for the judge to revoke bail entirely and make you stay in jail until your case is completed.
It is a must for the court to determine that you had proper notice and willfully did not appear in court to find that you have failed to appear in court. If the correct procedure is notice through mail, it will be only required for the court to send notice to your mail address in the court records or to your attorney. In case you do not have an attorney to represent you, such as in a traffic case, you are the one that is responsible to keep the court informed of your address. If you change your address and you do not inform the court about your new address, you cannot use failure to get the notice as the reason for failure to appear in court.
In the case when you cannot control the case that results in failure to appear in court, such as a serious illness, an accident, or a natural disaster, you might want to use this to defend in the case of failure to appear. For this, it will be needed for you to gather all the evidence of the emergency that made you fail to appear in court.
If you are summoned to appear in court as a witness and not as a defendant in a criminal or traffic case or for some other purpose aside from as a witness, there is no exception for you. Just like the defendants who are summoned, it is also a must for you to follow the order to appear in court. If you fail to appear in court, there is a risk of you getting charged with failure to appear or criminal contempt. In the worst case, the court may issue a bench warrant for your arrest.
In conclusion, if you are planning to not appear in court, you are suggested to talk to your criminal defense attorney as soon as possible unless you want to get charged with the things mentioned above. Upon hearing the thing from you, the attorney will inform you about the law in your state or community regarding failure to appear in court. Apart from that, they will also help and give you advice on how to proceed. In addition, they can also represent you in a hearing before the judge to address the failure to appear.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
