Arrest Warrants

Resolving Outstanding Warrants

Avoid an Embarrassing Arrest and a Night in Jail

If you think there is an active arrest warrant with your name on it, do not wait for the authorities to come for you. The police always seem to arrest people at the most inopportune times — in the middle of the night, at family dinner time, at your workplace. You can avoid embarrassment and an extended stay in jail by taking a proactive approach to your warrant and the underlying criminal offense.

How Do I Find Out if There Is a Warrant?

The most common scenarios are warrants for commission of a crime, violating terms of probation, skipping a court date or failing to pay court-ordered fines. We commonly represent out-of-state clients with unresolved arrest warrants from a previous visit to Florida.

The first step is contacting Hessinger & Kilfin, at our St. Petersburg, Tampa or Clearwater office. If you call us at (888) 863-7415, we can verify if there is outstanding warrant for your arrest, the nature of the charge and the amount of the bond.

We can then advise on the best of three main approaches, depending on your situation:

1. The most advantageous way is to appear with your attorney before the court that issued the warrant and resolve the underlying case with a disposition that does not include jail or prison. This scenario avoids being arrested, a strip search, making bail, and the other indignities and hassles of going to jail.
2. Another approach is to post a surety bond through a licensed bail bond agency. This guarantees you will not be inconveniently arrested, but requires that you pay the bondsman a non-refundable 10 percent premium on the bond amount. Depending on the amount of the bond and the bondsman's assessment of your risk of failing to appear, the bondsman may require you to post collateral to cover the other 90 percent of the bond amount.
   
   The drawbacks to this approach are twofold: First, the bondman will turn you into the jail and it will take several hours to process you out. Second, the bondsman may attach conditions to the bond that restrict your freedom and require you to keep daily or weekly contact with the bondsman. Most importantly, if you fail to appear, the bondsman will track you down and any property that was used as collateral may be subject to forfeiture to the bondsman.
3. The final approach is turn yourself in to the Pinellas County Jail and pay the full amount of the bond in cash. Keep in mind that the court can apply your cash bond to other court cost and fines that you owe. The amount remaining, if any, will be returned to you assuming you did not fail to appear for court.

Tim Hessinger and Donald Kilfin are experienced criminal defense attorneys who can capably represent you on any criminal charge or probation violation for which the arrest warrant was issued.

Call (888) 863-7415 or contact us online. We practice in criminal courts of Pinellas County, as well as Hillsborough, Manatee and Pasco counties, and extend a free initial consultation.