Held in Jail for 40 Days on a Child Support FTA Warrant
My question involves criminal law for the state of: KENTUCKY. I live in Campbell county. Went to court for child support for campbell co on Oct 25th. All was fine, went to leave & the sheriff said had a warrant for grant co child support. Was never sent a notice of a court date tho the grant co child support office has my address, even mailed me a letter earlier this yr stating my 19 yr old was taken off the case, and I've lived at this address 8 1/2 yrs. I was held in the campbell co dtention center 29 days, on day 29 grant co came to get me. My boyfriend cled grant co when i first went to jail and he was told my courtdate would be nov 9th (grant co never picked me up). He called nov 9th since i wasnt taken to court, they said they just (THAT DAY, NOV 9th) put in a transfer order, that my new court date would be nov 23rd. Like i said, they didnt come get me until nov 22nd after sitting for 29 days. We thought maybe my sentence was for 30 days, and that when i went to court the next day on nov 23rd that I'd be releases. My boyfriend took off work, had borrowed his moms car to pick me up.
Well, despite telling the corrections officers in grant co detention ctr repeatedly (when i was booked in on nov 22nd, then the next morning around 6am at breakfast, then after that every time they did their checks i said i have court when are they taking me? Answer was they'll get you when they get you. They didn't take me. It was the day before thanksgiving, i have a baby, it was her first thanksgiving and i had to miss it. Finally my boyfriend found out the nextcourtdate would be dec 7th. I was released out of the blue on fri dec 2nd. When i onwent to court iFINALLY out i was only supposed to be in jail TEN DAYS!!!! I got an eviction as well that was on nov 27th for failure to turn in paperwork that WOULD'VE never had happened if number one i only did my TEN DAY sentence, and EVEN AFTER had grant co jail taken me to court on nov 23rd, or had gotten me and taken me to court on the first courtdate they'd set for nov 9th.
I'd like to know what i can do about this.
Also, my daughter turned 18 on may 5, 2015, they mailed me a letter earlier this yr stating she was off the case (finally), but in court #1, they had my old last name (i got divorced in 2007, have had dif last name since then, and the letter they mailed me this yr had my correct name) the child support lady tried to say "ms. Owens or johnson isnt here" when i was already all the way up to the front standing in front of the judge. I almost yelled I'm right here. Then, the child support "lady" said "these two children", & i told the judge my daughter is 19 1/2 yrs old, told the judge about the letter i recieved this yr with the CORRECT NAME AT THE CORRECT ADDRESS but was never sent a notice for court, that it said my daughter was no longer on the case. The judge told the lady to make MAJOR ammends, that my daughter is to be taken off immediately, and the arrears need to be adjusted dating back to may 5, 2015. But was not given an explanation as to why i was held all that time for a ten day sentence.
I dont have a record, either. I dont misscourt, i dont break the law.
Re: Held in Jail for 40 Days on a Child Support FTA Warrant
You or your lawyer can check the court file for court notices, to figure out why you did not receive notice of the court date that you missed. We can only guess.
Realistically speaking, there has to be more at play here than one missed court hearing in order for the court to have issued a bench warrant. Child support warrants are usually issued in cases that involve arrears, and often allow a parent to post part or all of the arrears as a bond to be released from custody.