Friday, October 12, 2012

MUST FLORIDA HONOR AN ARREST WARRANT FROM ANOTHER STATE EVEN IF I'M NOT GUILTY OF ANYTHING?

What should you do if you find you have an active arrest warrant issued from another state? Here's a question your Clearwater Criminal Defense Lawyer was recently asked:
I'm very scared of being arrested for something I didn't do. What happens when another state issues an arrest warrant? I moved to Florida several years ago. I've just found out that there is a felony arrest warrant for Fraud or Scheme to Defraud in Atlanta, Georgia. From what I can figure out the warrant was issued from the company I used to work for and is a misunderstanding that I thought was already cleared up and I have the paperwork to prove it.  Will Florida police arrest me for this? If I'm innocent can I resist the arrest? What should I do?

even great oarsmen can't escape an out of state warrant  as the warrant  will be honored in Tampa BayFlorida
Renoir,  The Oarsmen, 1879
You may think it was just a 'misunderstanding' in Georgia, I hope for your sake you're right, but a Georgia Judge signed an arrest warrant based on probable cause that you committed Felony Fraud in Georgia. You'll need to hire an attorney in Georgia to persuade the prosecutor that the criminal case against you should be dismissed. Prosecutors in Georgia will not likely look into your case until after you turn yourself in, make a court appearance and only then will you be allowed to seek a bond. 
If you choose not to turn yourself in to Georgia authorities, then you need to understand that at anytime you may be stopped by Tampa Bay Police and arrested in Florida as an arrest warrant from another state will be honored by Florida law enforcement. 
Although it's true that you can resist an unlawful arrest in Florida without using violence, a Florida arrest based on a warrant from Georgia will be deemed lawful and any attempt to resist the arrest will result in Florida criminal charges of resisting arrest without violence.  
If you are arrested under the Georgia warrant in Florida, you will be kept in detention without a bond as you'll be deemed a flight risk. Instead Florida will contact Georgia to determine if Georgia wants you to be extradited back to Georgia to face the Felony Fraud charge. In Florida you will be given an extradition hearing to determine if Georgia has the right bring you back and that you are the person whom Georgia seeks with matching fingerprints or DNA. At an extradition hearing a Clearwater Criminal Defense Attorney could argue any false identity issues, but will not be permitted to argue the underlying merits of the Felony Fraud or Scheme to Defraud case against you nor your innocence as those issues are for a Georgia Court to determine. 
The smartest thing for you to do is not to wait for the arrest warrant to come to you, rather you must go to it by cleaning up the matter in Georgia immediately.