Memphis Criminal Defense Lawyer on: Bench Warrants in Memphis

If you’ve been charged with a crime in Memphis but missed your court date, you are now facing a bench warrant. That means the judge has put out a warrant for your arrest because you weren’t at court. How do you take care of this? First, call a Memphis criminal defense lawyer. You’re going to need one anyway for the criminal case, and that lawyer can help you with the warrant as well. The first thing you have to do is go to court with your lawyer. You’ll have to stand there in front of the judge so he or she knows you’re present and are not in Mexico or somewhere. The quicker you can get to court after the warrant, the better your chances of having the warrant recalled (or set aside). In my experience a couple days are no big deal, and a few weeks is ok, but anything more than that and you may have some explaining to do.

Judges don’t like it when people just skip court for months. And this is just for a misdemeanor–if it’s a felony that you missed court for, you’re in trouble. That felony has probably now been sent to the grand jury for you to be indicted, and you’ll also be indicted for failure to appear for that felony which is itself a NEW felony charge. So if it’s a misdemeanor and it hasn’t been too long since you missed court, you’re probably ok. Let me point out something else–this procedure I’ve outlined is for cases in General Sessions court only. If it’s criminal court, you’re probably looking at having your bond revoked, meaning if you do go in front of the judge, even with your lawyer, you’re probably getting locked up. And if it was for a felony, again, you’ll be facing a new felony charge of failure to appear. Sometimes people have legitimate reasons for missing court. If this happened to you, contact Memphis criminal defense lawyer Patrick Stegall to see about having your bench warrant recalled. You can reach him at (901) 205-9894 or pstegall@stegall-law.com.