My question involves an arrest warrant from the State of: California
Hello Everyone,
Please Help.
In October 2006, I was arrested in Hollywood for suspicion of DUI. I blew a 0.09 on the scene, and a 0.08 at the station. On my first court date, the public defender assigned to me enocuraged me to fight it and file a motion to suppress because the arresting officer had no probable cause to pull me over in the first place. (If you want the crazy back story, including my best friend being arrested as well, just ask, but to summarize, the officer lied his butt off in the police report and said his reason for stopping me in the first place was in fact because of a pedestrian violation, and not a driving one.)
Anyway, I really got screwed in the public defender department. The original one I had ended up being assigned to another case, so on the day that both my witness and I were to testify and I was going to file the motion to suppress, the new public defender messed up and had me testify while my witness was still in the courtroom, which pissed the judge off, and made my public defender afraid to file the motion. He then encouraged me to take a plea bargain from the prosecutor. It went from DUI to Exhibition of Speeding (Misdemeanor) to Drunk in Public (Misdemeanor) to Drunk in Public (Infraction) before I finally gave in. I was sentenced to do 15 AA classes.
(Fast forward to a few months later, a couple of days before I'm due in court to show proof of my AA class attendance.)
I am originally from Chicago, IL. When I was sentenced, my public defender told me that I didn't even have to show up for the hearing where I showed my proof of AA attendance--I could just fax the documents to him, and he would stand up in court for me. I ended up moving back to my hometwon before the court date, and can you guess what happened when I called his office to get him the documents? He has been transferred to another district. I told the woman on the phone the situation, and she said she would get someone to call me back before my court date. I haven't been able to get anyone on the phone since.
Needless to say, I was a no-show at court, and there has been a bench warrant issued for my arrest. It has now been over a year that I have technically been a fugitive, and I don't even know where my signatures from the DUI classes are anymore. I want to get to LA next month sometime to finally turn myself in, but I have no idea what to expect. Will they attempt to keep me? What will the judge say when I tell him I no longer have proof of attending the AA classes?
That's just the tip of the iceberg, considering I also need to deal with the California DMV and figure out what is going on with the status of my Illinois driver's license.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I have no idea where to start.

