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Kansas Failure to Appear Laws - Outstanding Warrant
I will defend your rights . . . and your freedom!If you've been accused of or arrested for Failure to Appear or have an Outstanding Warrant in Kansas, you need an experienced criminal lawyer to help you through it. Take advantage of our free consultation and make an informed decision about how you want to proceed. You have nothing to lose by calling. I'll give you some free advice either way. Call now, 888-439-4244.
When you miss a court date you can’t always “make it up”. When you have been ordered to appear for court and then fail to show up, you could be facing additional criminal charges. Kansas judges do not look kindly on people who don’t show up for their “appointments”. If you are facing failure to appear charges in Kansas, call me to discuss your case today.
According to Kansas statute (K.S.A. 21-3813), failure to appear is defined as intentionally incurring a forfeiture of an appearance bond and failing to surrender oneself within 30 days following the date of such forfeiture by one who is charged with a misdemeanor."
What does that mean?
What this means is that when you fail to report to court as directed for a misdemeanor charge, you give up your bond (previously posted to get you out of jail if you were not released on your “own recognizance”). Once your bond has been forfeited (you didn’t show up), you have 30 days to turn yourself in. It is when you fail to turn yourself in that you may face the failure to appear charge.
I missed my 30 day window. What should I do?
There are still options we can present to the court. But we need to so so quickly. The more time passes, the less agreeable the court may be to your explanations. Let me get on the case today.
I missed my 30 day window by a lot. Years. What should I do?
You can still do a lot in these cases. With old cases, they may not even have sufficient evidence to prove the original crime for which you were supposed to appear. If that's the case, I may be able to get the old warrant cleared with a few legal motions.
But if you are picked up for failure to appear, you lose all your leverage. It won't matter if they can't prove the original crime, they will be able to prove that you skipped court.
It's been so long. I don't think it'll ever catch up to me.
That is a dangerous assumption. There are many cases where old warrants pop back up after being buried for years. As new data is added to criminal databases, you are increasingly at risk of being arrested at any time. A simple traffic ticket could result in being handcuffed and arrested.
And more commonly, you don't even need to do anything wrong to be flagged, pulled over, and arrested. There are new license plate scanning technologies in police vehicles across the state and across the county. If an old warrant is connected in a database to your license plate, you will be flagged, and arrested on the spot.
What is the Penalty for Failure to Appear in Court?
Failure to appear (K.S.A. 21-3813) is a Class B misdemeanor and is punishable by a potential sentence of up to 6 months in jail and $1,000 in fines.
What is Aggravated Failure to Appear?
Aggravated failure to appear applies to felonies. Kansas statute defines this offense as failing to report to court for felony charges, intentionally forfeiting a bond, and not turning oneself in within 30 days of the forfeiture.
Aggravated failure to appear is a severity level 10 felony and is punishable by up to7 months for someone who has no prior convictions. This potential sentence can increase up to 13 months in prison if there are any prior convictions on your record.
ref: Aggravated Failure to Appear K.S.A. 21-3814Free Case Evaluation on Failure to Appear Warrants in Kansas
Kansas failure to appear statutes are quite lenient in that they give you 30 days to turn yourself in prior to adding the additional charges. Other states are not so forgiving. What this means for you is if you end up charged with failure to appear, a Kansas judge will know you already had 30 days worth of chances to make it right.
As an attorney who has seen charges like this before, I know that sometime unexpected things happen in life that can prevent you from making it to court. I know that life isn’t always as simple as it seems in the law books.
If you are charged with a failure to appear in court in Kansas, don't wait to contact an attorney. Even with a very old warrant, it could come back to bite you anytime. And if you are arrested, you may stay in jail until the case clears the courts.
If we are proactive, we may be able to prevent all that from happening and clear your record. Call me now for my free defense consultation, and I'll explain how I can help you.
Sincerely,
- Attorney Mark Hagen
Kansas
Criminal Defense Lawyer
Mark Hagen, Attorney at Law
Law Offices of Mark Hagen
10801 Mastin Blvd, Suite #110
Overland Park, Kansas 66202
(888) 439-4244
Overland Park, KS