What is the difference between a bench warrant and an arrest warrant? What are the differences?
What is the difference between a bench warrant and an arrest warrant? What are the differences?
An arrest warrant is issued based upon there being probable cause to arrest the subject of the warrant for a criminal offense.
A bench warrant is issued by a court in which an action is pending, usually due to a party's failure to respect a subpoena or order to appear for a court hearing.
And both can result in a ride to jail.
- Carl
When you have a bench warrant out for you, what are the legal ways they can arrest you? Can they just come to your house or do you need to be caught doing something wrong?
Another thing I would like to know, when i go to the continuance, will they arrest me there or will they lift the warrant since I DID show up for that date?
It all depends. If the police have a lawful right to be where they are, and they see you, they can make the arrest. However, if a warrant is not endorsed for "nighttime service" they cannot generally serve the warrant in a non-public place between 10 PM and 6 AM.Quoting nitesquirrel213
Usually, when we get an abstracted bench warrant, we go looking for them at home or work.
Additionally, if the issuing county will not extradite on the warrant (this is common for traffic infractions), then the neighboring jurisdictions may not know of, or be able to serve the warrant.
- Carl
Hard to say. They might arrest you, they might take you before the judge, or they might exhonerate the warrant. It is usually best to have an attorney arrange this ahead of time to avoid a night in jail.Quoting nitesquirrel213
If you failed to show once before, they may require you post bail the next time as your written promise to appear wasn't good enough the first time around.
- Carl