This information is provided by Picture the Homeless to inform you of your rights and responsibilities under the law. It is not legal advice and cannot substitute for a lawyer.
1) Ignoring a warrant does not make it go away. A warrant can be issued in a number of circumstances, including missing a summons hearing (when you were supposed to go to a court date) and didn’t show up. If you have police contact while you have a warrant, even for a minor violation, the police are required to arrest you for the warrant.
2) If you know whether you have a warrant you can make an informed choice and take control of the situation. If you find out that you do have a warrant, you do not have to clear it up but you have a better sense of your options and of the choices you can make.
3) If you find out that you have a warrant, you can deal with it in a way that is more convenient for you. If you wait until the police pick you up, it may happen at an extremely inconvenient time – like when you’ve started a new job or are sick.
Once you have information about the process for learning whether you have a warrant and how to resolve it, you do not have to use the information to actually clear the warrant. However, having the information will let you know what your options are, and lets you make an affirmative choice – even if that choice is not to act.
There are generally two ways to check on a warrant:
1) Contact the Legal Services Attorney who represented you in your case. They can try to find out if you have a warrant for missing your court date and how to proceed. If your case was in Manhattan, your case has been assigned to one of four different public defender agencies. You may have to call them all, with your name and birth date, to find out who your lawyer is:
Legal Aid: 212-298-5000 (ask for Central Records)
New York County Defender services: 212-803-5100
Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem: 212-876-5500
18-b Assigned Counsel Plan: 212-676-0066 (general number – it can be difficult to get someone on the line but keep trying different extensions) OR 212-676-0087 and speak with Ms. Rodriguez (you can also leave a message for her and she will call you back).2) Call the Summons/Records Department of the court where your missed hearing was scheduled. They can tell you if you have a warrant or “open case” (which is not necessarily a warrant). If they will not tell you whether you have a warrant over the phone, you can also go into the court clerk’s office personally.
Summons/Records at 100 Centre Street and 346 Broadway: 646-386-4869 OR 646-386-4906 (the line may ring for awhile without anyone picking up. Just keep trying the number.)
Summons/Records at Midtown Community Court: 646-246-1311
To resolve a warrant, you will have to go to the Court Clerk’s office at the courthouse where your missed hearing was scheduled, so that a new court date can be set.
Although the court has the authority to have you arrested for missing your court date, you will probably not be. Instead, if you go at 9am when the court first opens, you will probably have a hearing to set a new court date. You will likely have to wait at the courthouse for a few hours while they find the records of your case.
It is best to have your lawyer with you for these proceedings. However, if you are there without a lawyer, you should be prepared to tell the judge why you missed your hearing date (documentation – like proof that you were in the hospital – is good to bring). It is unlikely that the facts of the case will be discussed, and the judge will probably tell you not to miss any more court dates, set a new hearing date for you and let you go. If you have missed a lot of hearing dates in the past, the judge may set bail to ensure that you appear at your hearing. (This is not a guarantee of what will happen to you – it is just what happens to most people when they go to court to resolve a warrant).
1) Pleading not guilty to a ticket by mail makes it more likely that the ticket will be dismissed early in the process and you will not have to go to court about it.
2) Fighting bogus tickets is a step towards greater justice and less police harassment. In 2005, New York City made over $5 million on summonses (the little pink tickets). The top two summons offenses were open container and disorderly conduct. By fighting back against bogus tickets, we can let the city know that homeless people are not an easy target for them to profit off of.
WITHIN 48 HOURS (2 DAYS) OF RECEIVING THE TICKET, YOU MUST:
1) Fill in the information in the box on the bottom of the back of the ticket under the words “I hereby plead not guilty” – name, address (so that they can contact you – remember apartment numbers), signature, and date.
2) Address an envelope to the Not Guilty Unit of the court where you have to make your appearance, which should be written on the front of your ticket. The full address of each of the courthouses where summons hearings occur in the 5 boroughs is to the right.
3) Write a short statement on a separate piece of paper about why you are not guilty (what you were doing, what the cop did, any mistakes on the ticket, etc. This does not have to be in legal language, just try to write in short, clear, legible sentences. Including this statement with your ticket is not required in order to plead guilty, but makes it more likely that your ticket will be dismissed. This statement can also be good evidence if you have to go to trial.
4) Make a photocopy of both the front and back of the ticket and write on your copy the date that you mailed the originals in – keep these copies in a safe place for your records.
5) Mail the original of the ticket and your written statement. Wait. If you do not hear from the court within 30 days of mailing in your ticket, show up to the court date written on your original ticket and bring copies of the ticket and written statement as evidence that you tried to plead not guilty. If the court does mail you back a letter giving you a new court date, make sure to go to your trial. This is your chance to defend yourself and be found “not guilty” by the court.
These are the courts that your summons hearing may be at, that you may have to mail your “not guilty” plea to your ticket to, or that you may have to go to in order to resolve a warrant. To plead not guilty to a ticket by mail, make sure to address your ticket to the “NOT GUILTY UNIT” of the court your hearing is at:
|
BRONX 215 East 161st Street Bronx, NY 10451 |
BROOKLYN 88-94 Visitation Pl. Brooklyn, NY 11231 |
| MANHATTAN 346 Broadway New York, NY 10013 |
MANHATTAN 314 W 54th Street New York, NY 10019 |
| QUEENS 120-55 Queens Blvd Kew Gardens, NY 11415 |
STATEN ISLAND 67 Targee Street Staten Island, NY 10304 |
1) Knowing the law is an important tool in fighting police abuse. If you know the law, you can know what to look for in police interactions when you think that the police were violating your rights.
2) Just because you are ticketed or arrested for something does not mean that you were doing something illegal. The police can make mistakes in filling out paperwork or be wrong about the law, and you have the right to defend yourself against these errors.
3) Common mistakes that the police make are writing the wrong charge or number of the law associated with that charge on your ticket or paperwork. Sometimes the police will write something down that does not match your behavior or will charge you with something (like panhandling) that is not illegal. You can use your knowledge of the law to challenge these types of mistakes in court and as a way to hold the police accountable.
Once you know the law, you can make informed decisions about what your options are and what actions you want to take. You are not a victim of the law, but can be an active participant – from challenging tickets and arrests on an individual level, to educating others on their rights and working for social change.