What Happens if You Fail to Appear in Court Because You're in Jail
My question involves criminal law for the state of: Michigan
My friend was arrested in County A on felony charges last year. She received probation and violated that probation.
A couple of months ago, she was arrested in County B for a minor charge. Once her bond was posted, she was immediately transferred to County A on the probation violation.
After 2 months in jail in County A, she was released on a new probation sentence.
However, during that 2 months in jail in County A, she ended up missing her court date in County B who issued a bench warrant. So when she was released from jail in County A, they released her directly to County B. Due to the Failure To Appear, her bond was set very high.
I'm sure that once she sees a judge in County B, she'll be able to prove that the Failure To Appear was justified and she'll either receive a normal bond or have the initial bond reinstated and she'll be released with a new court date.
However, if that takes a couple of days, will she be considered in violation of her probation in County A for not reporting and sent right back to County A jail? It's her first reporting, she was never set free. She was simply picked up from County A by County B.
If so, then she'll likely be in jail again in County A and miss the next County B court date resulting in another warrant. I'm afraid this will just be an endless cycle of serving 90 days in County A for probation violation to be released to County B on a Failure To Appear warrant to be released back to County A for another probation violation.... and on and on.
I would note that County A judge ended her original probation and began a new probation sentence... he did not continue the existing probation. As such, the charges incurred in County B were not "new charges" while on her current probation.
Re: What Happens if You Fail to Appear in Court Because You're in Jail
Why isn't she working with an attorney?
Re: What Happens if You Fail to Appear in Court Because You're in Jail
She is, but so far the only word has been that he'll be at her arraignment.
Re: What Happens if You Fail to Appear in Court Because You're in Jail
Well then she needs to inform the attorney of her scheduling conflicts. Nobody here has a crystal ball and can predict what will happen if she misses one court date because she's already incarcerated. An attorney can appear in her stead, presumably.