FAQ- Riverside County Warrant Search. How to Find a Warrant and What to do if you have an Arrest Warrant or Bench Warrant.

A bench warrant usually refers to a warrant issued by a judge when a defendant fails to appear in court. It is a court order to arrest and book a defendant. The court order will also specify the amount of bail.

If you hire an attorney for a misdemeanor warrant, they can place you on the court's calendar and appear on your behalf, which is especially helpful if you live out of town. For most misdemeanor cases, an attorney can make all court appearances without the defendant coming to court at all.

If you do not hire an attorney and want to get a court date, go to the Larson Justice Center in Indio between 7:30 AM and 8:00 AM and you can get on the court’s calendar for that same day. The Larson Justice Center is located at 46-200 Oasis St Indio, CA 92201.

When you arrive, speak with the clerk at the criminal window and request to be added to the court's calendar. You may also add yourself on to calendar online with eSubmit by submitting a Request to Add on to Calendar form.

A felony warrant is a serious matter and can have major life consequences. For a felony warrant you will go through the same process as stated above. But if you hire an attorney, they can handle scheduling the court date for you. Both you and your attorney must appear before the court on the scheduled date.

For a misdemeanor warrant, when you or your attorney appear before the court, judge will arraign you – practically this means that you enter a “not guilty” plea, receive a copy of the police report, and set a future date for a pre-trial hearing. The vast majority of defendants appearing in court for a misdemeanor warrant get release on their own recognizance and do not need to post bail.

For a felony warrant, you and your attorney will appear before the court. The judge can set bail depending on the facts of the case. If the judge sets bail, officers will take you into custody until you post bond. You should discuss your case in detail with an experienced attorney before appearing in court on a felony warrant – the attorney will be able to tell you how likely you are to be remanded.

Your case will start back at the same stage it was before the judge issued the bench warrant. For example, if your case was at pre-trial stage, you will go back to pre-trial. If your case was on the master calendar for trial assignment, it will be sent back to master calendar.

Speedy trial and preliminary hearing timelines will start from zero the day you make it back to court. For example, a speedy felony trial is 60 days from arraignment on the information. The day you get back to court would be day 1 of 60.

If a bench warrant has recently been issued and you have no other history of failures to appear, the judge may simply recall and quash the warrant when you get back back to court. But you should be ready to explain why you missed court and apologize to the judge for the mistake.

If a bench warrant has been pending for some time, it is possible you will be locked up and the bail may be raised in your case.

A bench warrant or arrest warrant won’t go away on its own whether it’s a misdemeanor or felony —you or your attorney must appear in court to address it. Ignoring it can lead to serious consequences.

For example, if you're stopped by law enforcement and they run your name, any outstanding warrant will surface. In any traffic stop, an officer will check your name for warrants shortly after taking your driver’s license. If you are arrested on a warrant during a traffic stop your vehicle will be impounded in addition to going to jail. Warrants can be served at any time, meaning you could locked up unexpectedly and at a very inconvenient time.

Additionally, active warrants appear in background checks, which are standard for most hiring processes and rental housing applications. Having an active warrant or pending charges may give a potential employer reason to deny you employment or a promotion.

Felony warrants can have an impact on government benefits. Under California Welfare and Institution Code section 1486.5 a person is not eligible for aid if the individual is fleeing to avoid prosecution or in custody for a felony. Also, some felony warrants can impact an individual’s SSD, SSI, or VA benefits.

A bench warrant or arrest warrant can also affect your driver's license or have immigration consequences. Ultimately, ignoring a warrant can negatively impact many aspects of your livelihood. It's strongly recommended that you consult an attorney to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

You are guaranteed the right to a speedy trial once you have been charged with a crime under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution.

In cases involving misdemeanor warrants that are over a year old, where the defendant was never notified about the warrant, the delay may support the dismissal of the case via a Serna Motion.

For example, if a defendant was issued a citation to appear for a court hearing, attended the court hearing, and no charges were filed on the day of the hearing, but charges were filed later without providing notice to the defendant, a Serna Motion could be filed to dismiss the case for a misdemeanor warrant. Courts usually view delays exceeding one-year for misdemeanors as presumptively prejudicial, potentially violating the right to a speedy trial. According to Serna v. Superior Court (1985), delays between the filing of a complaint and the defendant’s arrest that exceed this period may be deemed unreasonable and justify dismissal. However, if the defendant was cited and simply ignored a court date, a Serna motion may not be granted.

For felony warrants it depends on how old the warrant is and the reason for the delay. In most cases, a felony will not be dismissed unless the defense can show that the delay has caused prejudice. To sort out if you can get a case dismissed under this standard requires going over the facts of the case and the causes of the delay with an experienced criminal defense attorney.

For a misdemeanor warrant almost certainly not. There are thousands of old misdemeanor warrants and the police are making little to no effort to actively serve these warrants.

For a felony warrant, the police will actively attempt to find defendants on serious cases. However, the police are usually not actively looking to serve warrants for lower level felonies.

All Riverside County warrant records are stored in local, state, and national criminal record systems. The California Department of Justice maintains this database. Whenever an individual’s criminal background is being checked, the system provides a report of the individual’s criminal history. The criminal history report will reflect the warrant, and the charges on a California employment and housing background check, this will be the same in most other states. The warrant will also show on background checks run by the state for professional licenses. You can even be denied the opportunity to volunteer at a school because of an outstanding warrant.

In general, only serious felonies will have extraditable warrants. So, if you are in another state, their local police departments may not hunt you down and lock you up, but you will still face other problems outlined above, such as denial of employment, immigration problems, or denial of professional licenses.