Missing a criminal court date in Oregon is a big deal. You may be facing jail time and fines for this offense. You need legal help to unwind this problem.
We understand that most likely a situation arose that you couldn’t get away from and you missed your court appearance. Maybe you were traveling, or live out of state. You may not have been property notified of the court date and requirement. Or you may have simply panicked and not known what to do.
And now there are even more questions. What will happen now if you go to the courthouse? Will you be arrested? Is there a warrant out for you? (In many cases, the answer is yes).
These are legitimate questions and no doubt they are questions that may be causing you some additional stress. But if you haven’t been arrested, it may not be too late to fix this problem. We may be able to smooth over the situation, and get you a new court date. If you have a very old arrest warrant, in some cases we can get the warrant and charged dismissed entirely!
But one thing is for sure. This problem won’t go away on it’s own. The Oregon criminal courts have a good memory and criminal charges don’t just go away after a period of time. If you have an active warrant, you are considered a fugitive, and there is no “statute of limitations”.
So act now and let us help you fix this failure to appear charge or open arrest warrant once and for all. Call today to discuss your failure to appear charge.
Failure to Appear in Court – Penalties
The severity of the charge you face for failure to appear depends on the case that was being addressed on your missed court date.
Obviously, the more serious the charges were that you neglected to appear for, the more serious your new failure to appear charge will be.
Failure to Appear, 1st Degree
First degree failure to appear regards court dates that you missed that were related to felony charges. If you missed a court date on a felony charge, you will be charged with 1st degree failure to appear.
This new charge is a Class C felony and carries a potential prison sentence of up to 5 years as well as fines reaching $125,000.
Ref: Or. Rev. Stat. §162.205
Failure to Appear, 2nd Degree
Second degree failure to appear is related to court dates you missed for misdemeanor charges. If the date you missed court was for a misdemeanor case, you will be charged with 2nd degree failure to appear.
This failure to appear charge is a Class A misdemeanor and carries a potential sentence of up to one year in jail and fines up to $6250.
Ref: Or. Rev. Stat. §162.195
Missed a Court Date? Criminal Warrant out for your arrest? Get Legal Help now!
While things do come up and we can’t always make our appointments, we have to take responsibility for missed court dates. The first step is contacting an attorney. If there is a warrant out for your arrest we can discuss the best way to handle it, and hopefully make the problem go away with a minimum of further damage.
If you are already been arrested and charged with failure to appear, then our options may be more limited, but the situation for you is serious and even more urgent.
Contact our Oregon defense attorneys today to discuss the details of your case.