Missed a Court Date
Are you facing criminal charges and you missed a court date? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m an attorney with Wirth Law Group in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been doing criminal law for about seven years and I want to help you make law easy by helping you just figure out what to do if, for whatever reason, you missed a day that you were supposed to be in court. This happens way more often than people think.
Most people would think, oh man, I’ve got to go to court. I should not miss it. I shouldn’t be late. I should be 20 minutes early. A lot of people think that way, but not always. And it’s not always possible. Life happens. Keys get lost. Cars break down. Emergencies come up. The best thing that I can say is if you’re in a situation where you know you’re not going to be able to make it to court or you’re not going to be able to make it on time, call your lawyer. Let your lawyer know where you’re going to be. Let them know if you’re going to be late. Let them know if you’re not going to be able to make it so that way they can address that with the judge and hopefully avoid a warrant being issued for your arrest.
What to Do If You Missed Court
But let’s say you don’t have a lawyer and so you can’t call them. You can always call the court clerks as well. Doesn’t matter what county you’re in. If it’s a big county or a small county, you get to the clerk’s office, you get to the criminal division and you explain the situation. They should be able to link you to the judge’s office and let you leave a message. That does not mean, though, that you don’t have to appear. That doesn’t mean that a warrant will not be issued for you.
If you’re in a situation where you missed court, you didn’t have a lawyer, or even if you did but the court just wasn’t having it and they issued a warrant for your arrest, what you need to do is figure out when that court is having their criminal docket. Some courts are open every day. Some courts are twice a week. Some courts are open once a week. Some courts are just once a month. It depends on what county that you’re in. But figure out when the docket is and you show up and you throw yourself at the mercy of the court.
Key Tips When Facing Consequences
Say, Your Honor, I’m so sorry that I missed my court date. I understand that I had an obligation to be here. My dog got sick. My car broke down. Whatever the reason was, explain it. And maybe, if possible, bring some kind of proof. So if you have a flat tire, take a picture of the flat. If you had a relative in the hospital or you were in the hospital, bring some sort of documentation or notation of that. What I absolutely cannot stress enough to you, though, is this: If you do that and the court decides to go ahead and take you into custody because your bond was revoked for missing the court date, be so respectful to the court and do exactly what you were told.
I recently saw something in court where a fellow missed his court date. The judge said, All right, well, you’re getting taken into custody. You need to contact your bondsman. This individual did not do anything that the court said. The court said, Go sit over here. Call your bondsman. Be quiet. Don’t leave. Don’t leave at all. Without us figuring this out, you’re probably going to be taken into custody. This guy was very disrespectful to the court, was not addressing the judge properly, kept calling him bro instead of your honor, had his phone out, slouched over, just texting in his chair, calling his dad. It was awful. The worst thing, though, was that he then tried to run away.
Get Legal Help Today
I cannot stress this enough. Don’t try to run away. That situation ended how you would expect. He was tackled. He was arrested. Any chance that he might have gotten some mercy from the court just evaporated in that moment. The best thing I can tell you is if, for whatever reason, you’ve had to miss court, get an attorney. Let that attorney try to act on your behalf. If you have questions about this, please give us a call. My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m with Wirth Law Office, and I want to help you make law easy. Contact us today at 918-879-1681 for a low-cost initial strategy
