Westley, CA Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

You now probably have an arrest warrant. To properly handle warrants, you must turn yourself into the issuing court, with or without an attorney, and try to negotiate a recall of the warrant[s] and a plea bargain on the new Failure to Appear charge. You'll try to negotiate bail reduction or OR release. You'll try to negotiate a plea bargain or take to trial the outstanding charges that caused the warrant. Turning yourself in voluntarily will result in a better outcome than being brought in cuffs to court after arrest on the warrant. On felony charges, the defendant must be personally present at every court hearing and appearance. On misdemeanors and infractions, the attorney can appear in court without the defendant being present, and any plea bargain deal could be handled by notarized paperwork. Effective plea-bargaining, using whatever legal defenses, facts and sympathies there may be, could possibly keep you out of jail, or at least dramatically reduce it. Unless you're competent to effectively represent yourself in court against a professional prosecutor trying to put you in jail, most people hire an attorney who can.

I cannot tell from the information you provided what the degree of these offenses are, felony or misdemeanor. Either way, you should be represented by an attorney and seek to get Prop. 36 drug diversion. Even if a misdemeanor under the influence carries a mandatory 90 days county jail if you do not accept and complete the drug program. Even for a felony, there is a benefit: Complete the program and the charge(s) will be dismissed.

Be very careful not to talk to anyone about the case without the assistance of a lawyer. If it is "he said, she said" then a way of showing the prosecutor you are telling the truth is a polygraph. The polygraph is not admissible in court however.