Ask Me Help Desk - An ODD Bench Warrant

Our dog got out of fence, someone turned her in to animal shelter. She had been shot in side and eye with air pellet gun and was treated by oncall dr at shelter. We finally found her at the shelter and paid reclaim fee. We got a citation for no proof of rabies vac. The next day I had the vet fax the proof of rabies vac to shelter. We got a call this week that there is a bench warrant for not appearing in court. I provided proof of rabies vac when the vet faxed to animal control and did what the citation said to provide proof, therefore didn't concern with the court date and forgot about it. Animal control said they never got the fax, didn't return the original citation back and failed to appear in court so there's a bench warrant for my arrest. This is crazy! The magistrate clerk said that's it's a $270 bond and can come to court house & pay and will schedule new court date and will probably have more fines then. Something doesn't seem rite with this! If anyone has any ideas or knows of any options I have, will be greatly appreciated! Im in Georgia

Well it is not "fair" but legal is not fair to start with. You did not check with the court to see if the court date was cancelled or not.

You needed to have appeared in court if the date was not cancelled.

At this point you have no choice, but to post the bail, ( which you get back or you get assigned to pay fines) I am not aware of what other fines, you provide proof that the dog had its shot, tell the judge what happened.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparc_plug

Our dog got out of fence, someone turned her in to animal shelter. She had been shot in side and eye with air pellet gun and was treated by oncall dr at shelter. We finally found her at the shelter and paid reclaim fee. We got a citation for no proof of rabies vac. The next day i had the vet fax the proof of rabies vac to shelter. We got a call this week that there is a bench warrant for not appearing in court. i provided proof of rabies vac when the vet faxed to animal control and did what the citation said to provide proof, therefore didn't concern with the court date and forgot about it. Animal control said they never got the fax, didn't return the original citation back and failed to appear in court so theres a bench warrant for my arrest. This is crazy! The magistrate clerk said thats its a $270 bond and can come to court house & pay and will schedule new court date and will probably have more fines then. Something doesn't seem rite with this! If anyone has any ideas or knows of any options i have, will be greatly appreciated! Im in Georgia

There's no way around it - you had a Court date and didn't appear. When the Court re-schedules go to that hearing with your proof and your "bond" will be returned to you.

Never a good idea with the Court system to not appear, no matter what the circumstances. Mistakes happen, Judges want to see proof in person. Maybe they didn't accept your faxed proof and want the original. I don't know.

You have to surrender yourself and pay the bond.