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Once a warrant is issued, it is advised to contact an attorney as soon as possible. Once the bail is paid, a new court date is set. Generally, there are no issues with addressing the bench warrant. The court will ask the client why he or she failed to appear, and may assess a contempt fine if the explanation is not satisfactory. There has to be a reasonably good excuse to avoid an additional financial penalty for that failure to appear. Other than the contempt fine, there generally is no other penalty.
A number of people address contempt issues and bench warrant issues in the form of a contempt hearing where they appear without an attorney. Most of the time, a judge imposes some type of contempt fine for that person who failed to show. However, when an attorney is present, that attorney may have a better sense of how to present to a judge the client’s the failure to appear, so that a monetary fine will not be imposed.
If a client fails to appear only one time, it usually does not affect the judge’s opinion of that client. Generally, the attorney is able to offer the judge a good reason for that person’s one-time absence. If the person consistently fails to appear, then there’s most likely going to be some negative point of view that the judge takes. For the most part, the judges who have taken that negative point of view seem to feel that the client has not taken the case and possible consequences that he or she is facing in a serious way.
Judges impose fines from $50 to $1000 for contempt fines. Though, it is rare that the fine would be as high as $1000. Usually it is between a $50 fine to $150 fine.
Generally, the only penalty that is imposed is the fine. A DWI Defense Attorney Can Help Get a Favorable Result In A DWI Case.