What To Do If You Missed Your Court Hearing

One of the worst feelings you might possibly experience is suddenly remembering that you had court yesterday but forgot to go. You should never miss a court hearing, especially if it is related to a criminal matter, so what do you do if this happens? If you end up missing a court hearing and are not sure what to do, here are some tips.

Understand the implications

If you think that missing a court hearing is no big deal, you should think again. Courts have schedules and are very strict about these schedules. Because of this, they take every court hearing seriously. If a person misses, he or she will have consequences. There are times when judges are lenient on a person, but you should not instantly expect the judge in your case to be lenient. After all, judges have a job to do, and they do not have to offer leniency.

Therefore, it is important you understand the implications of a missed court hearing. The main one is that you are held in contempt of court, and this gives the judge the right to issue a bench warrant for you. If this occurs, you could end up in jail without a bond. Secondly, you could face harsher consequences for the criminal charges you are facing. Instead of being offered a plea bargain in your deal, you might not receive the option of getting this as a choice. Instead, you might have to go through a trial.

Call your lawyer

So, what should you do if this happens? The first thing is to call your lawyer if you have one. If you do not yet have one hired, finding one to hire should be your first step. Your lawyer might be able to work out the details of your missed hearing in a way that would be beneficial to you. You would at least have a better chance of this if you had a lawyer compared to if you did not.

Go to the court or turn yourself in at the jail

The other thing you should do is surrender yourself if there is definitely a warrant out for you. This might not be the thing you want to do but doing so would help you avoid further problems with your case.

Missing a court date is not a good thing, but it happens often. If you need help with your criminal case, make sure you find a criminal defense lawyer to help you, as it is never wise to represent yourself.