Picture taken by Ian Britton: http://www.ianbritton.co.uk/
People don’t like court. Most people want to get their criminal cases done as soon as possible. As a result, many people are not paying attention to the judge. Unfortunately, the clerk will reduce into writing the judge’s orders onto the docket (court’s paperwork).
A lot of pleas end up in court fines or community service. Usually, the judge will allow a certain amount of time for the court fines to be paid or community service to be completed. If the money or community service is paid by a certain date, the defendant usually doesn’t need to show up to court. However, if the money isn’t paid or community service isn’t completed, the person needs to show up to court to address the situation.
If a person fails to show up to court to address the failure to pay or completion of community service, a warrant will be issued for the person’s arrest. To add to the person’s problems, the court adds extra fees for removing a warrant.
Usually, a person won’t be sent to jail for failure to pay court fees or completing community service. Most judges will give the person another chance to make good on their promise. However, if the fines or community service have lagged in the court system for some time, judges have locked up people. If a person is locked up for failure to pay a court fine, the person will usually get credit for about $30 a day. Meaning if a person owes a $300 fine, the person would be sitting in jail for 10 days. So the next time you owe the court a fine or community service, make sure you get it done or else you could end up in jail one day.
For more information: visit www.attorneychan.com or contact me at 508-808-8902
