What are my options with a bench warrant?
If you have a bench warrant in Los Angeles County, including the Santa Clarita and San Fernando Valleys, you have options which may help you productively resolve your case. It is never a good idea to ignore your warrant, and you should always have legal representation in your case, as you will read, below.
First and foremost, it is never a good idea to ignore your warrant and hope that it will go away. This year, alone, I have seen warrants 15-20 years old in local courts. While on occasion, Los Angeles County Prosecutors and Judges will purge old minor violations which have gone to warrant, you should not be of the opinion that this will be so in your case.
Secondly, even if you have lived with the warrant for a long period of time, it doesn't mean that you will not be held accountable for it. Unfortunately, in many cases I have seen over the years, people with warrants will be arrested years after a warrant has been issued, at the most inconvenience of times. If you are arrested on a misdemeanor traffic warrant on a Friday, you may not be brought to court until the following Monday or Tuesday, and will sit in jail unless bail is posted on your behalf. Even if you bail out, it is not uncommon for judges to sentence people to 30 days in jail for misdemeanor warrants.
Thirdly, while you may not think the warrant has negatively impacted your life, it probably has. These days, almost all employers run background checks on prospective employees; if you have a warrant, you are probably not going to be hired. If the warrant related to driving, your driver's license has likely been suspended, revoked, or "held" by DMV, preventing you from driving lawfully. Thus, if you are stopped with a suspended license and warrant, you will be arrested on the warrant, charged with a new misdemeanor, and likely have your car impounded.
As you can see, it is better to face a bench warrant head on with an experienced and knowledgeable Los Angeles Bench Warrant Attorney.