When a person gets arrested, it’s critical for him or her to make their court appearance. If they don’t, they will be held in contempt of court and face a bench warrant – a warrant for their arrest due to nonappearance. This second arrest may cause the court to set a higher bail amount or eliminate the possibility of bail altogether.
Often, a failure to appear in court isn’t intentional – sometimes people move or get a new phone number, and they don’t think to notify the court. Their court notices then go unheeded because they’re simply not receiving them.
Take the case of Jane Doe, one of the many clients that A 2nd Chance Bail Bonds has helped. Jane was living with a boyfriend in the Atlanta area and facing drug charges. However, the situation changed, and she fell on hard luck and found herself with nowhere to live. She was forced to move in with her parents in Florida. With so much going on, Jane didn’t think to notify the court that she had moved so of course, she didn’t receive her court notices. Thankfully, A 2nd Chance was able to intervene on her behalf and get her bench warrant recalled.
A 2nd Chance frequently goes above and beyond to help our clients get back to court and to correct the situation if they fail to appear. Whereas other bail bonds companies would automatically send a bounty hunter if a defendant doesn’t show up, we recognize that if there’s a failure to appear, it’s often because of a simple mistake, and we don’t automatically jump to putting the person back in jail. To us, it’s important to get to the root of why the failure to appear occurred. We even employ a full-time staff person to call clients, their attorneys and their cosigners to remind them of court dates.
In short, it’s okay to leave the state – life happens, and sometimes moving is necessary – but the court must be notified. The same is true for getting a new phone or any other change in contact information.
A 2nd Chance is here to help clients stay on top of court dates and not let their problems get compounded by simple errors!
