You can get arrested by the police with or without an arrest warrant in Los Angeles County, California. An arrest warrant, refers to the authorization given to law enforcement officials to arrest or detain you on the grounds of being a suspect in a potential crime. The arrest warrants are issued by the judges on the condition: if they have been provided evidence of your criminal intent by a District Attorney or a peace officer. The arrest warrant should include the defendant’s name, the crime they committed, time of issuing the warrant, the county or city of issuance, the judge’s title and signature, and the court’s name.
When the police has an arrest warrant, there are a number of measures they can take to arrest you. They can firstly execute it at your residence. This is where they will forcefully detain you especially after they announce their presence or you fail to open the door. More importantly, officers are not required to have a copy of the arrest warrant during the time of your arrest. It is perfectly legal for them to execute the warrant by placing you in handcuffs and taking you to jail.
However, if a judge has issued an arrest warrant for you and the officers, who are required to execute it, either fail to do so or take too long to arrest you, then your case can get dismissed. You can ask your lawyer to bring the “Serna Motion” in court that asks the judge to dismiss the case if there is sufficient evidence to prove that the officers failed to carry their duties.
You can check if an arrest warrant has been issued against you by resorting to the Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department, which operates the CWS (Countywide Warrant System) aimed to provide detailed information on wanted persons and warrants in the Los Angeles County.
If you happen to find out about an arrest warrant and that officers are looking to arrest you, and decide to flee the state or country, then you will be considered a fugitive fleeing from justice. You will be viewed as a fugitive irrespective of whether you see the charges as false or true. If you happen to move to a different country or state, you will be extradited back to the state in which you committed the crime.
This will cause you to face a heavier penalty if the charges of your earlier crime are also found to be correct. However, if you had no knowledge of your arrest warrant and fled the country or state, then you will not be viewed as a fugitive and will still be subjected on the process of bringing you back to your state.
Under certain cases, you can be granted bail and the judge who issued the arrest warrant is required to specify if your offence is bailable or not. Crimes for which you cannot receive bail are: capital crimes, felony offenses pertaining to sexual assault or violence, and felony offenses pertaining to threatening another person with bodily harm.