Whether you’re new to Texas or just new to having warrants out for your arrest, one thing that you need to be painfully aware of is the fact that Texas’ annual warrant round up is going on right now. What is the warrant round up, you ask? Well, it’s the time of year (usually in March) when law enforcement agencies and courts all across the state launch a massive operation aimed at locating and arresting individuals who have active warrants out as a result of unpaid or outstanding traffic citations or other Class C Misdemeanors. Not to mention the fact that this lovely time of year usually generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines for participating agencies all across the state. Here is a list of all the agencies that are participating in the round up this year. So, what should you do if you have warrants out for your arrest? First, you need to determine what type of warrant you have.
Alias Warrants and Capias Warrants in Collin County, Texas
There are two different types of warrants that you may have depending on the circumstances surrounding your unresolved citations.
Alias Warrants — When you receive a traffic citation or a citation for some other type of Class C Misdemeanor from a police officer and you sign the citation, you are essentially promising that you will come to the Court within a certain amount of time to resolve the citation. However, if you fail to appear in court as promised, then an alias warrant will be issued for your arrest. So, alias warrants are issued when you fail to appear in court as promised to resolve your citation and/or pay your fine. Also, courts will often times charge you with an additional offense, “Failure to Appear,” and issue an alias warrant for this charge as well as the original citation that you received.
Capias Warrants — Capias Warrants are issued when you appeared in court as promised but failed to pay your fine within the specified time period or failed to abide by the Judge’s order. As a result, you do not have the option to post a bond to lift a capias warrant.
What Should You Do if You have Outstanding Warrants in Collin County, Texas?
Well, as usual…it depends. If you have an alias warrant, I would strongly recommend that you consult with an attorney who is familiar with handling Class C Misdemeanors to discuss how to best resolve your warrant. This is especially true if you have multiple warrants out for your arrest because, by simply paying your warrants, each offense will then result in a final conviction on your driving record. And, certain convictions automatically trigger driver’s license suspensions, surcharges, and points on your driving record. Therefore, it is critical that you understand your options and the consequences of any choices that you may make. An experienced criminal defense attorney can often times get any alias warrants that you may have lifted, get the cases reset back onto the Court’s docket, and resolve your citations without any final convictions resulting on your record.
If you have a capias warrant, however, your only real option is to pay the assessed fine or serve time in jail. This is because you have essentially already resolved your citation with the Court when you made your initial appearance. As a result, there is no way for you or an attorney to post a bond and get your case reset on the docket. Should you or a loved one have active warrants, I invite you to contact me for a free consultation at (972) 372-4054 so that I can address any questions or concerns that you may have.