Warrants Depend on the Level of Crime Committed
Video Transcribed: My name is Stuart Ericson and I am an attorney in Wagoner. Today we’re going to talk about arrests. There are two types of arrests, arrests with a warrant and arrests without a warrant.
So first arrest with a warrant. So with a warrant, that’s a situation where the arrest comes much later. A crime is committed. The alleged victim calls it in. Police come out, they investigate, and they produce a report. There’s no suspect there to arrest at the time. Either they’ve already fled or gone. And so the police investigate, a report is produced and is sent off to a district attorney’s office. At that point in time, that report goes to one of the assistant DAs usually. They review the report and if they think charges are warranted, they file a charge. It is taken down to usually a magistrate judge and they read a probable cause affidavit. And if they believe there’s probable cause, then a warrant is issued for that person’s arrest.
So once that warrant is issued, two things can happen. One, if it’s a serious crime, law enforcement will go out and look for that suspect and arrest them based on the warrant. We have a warrant for your arrest. If it’s a more low-level crime, that warrant may sit for months and sometimes for years. They won’t actively try to track somebody down with every warrant. So it may be the first time a person gets a speeding ticket and they check the background and find the warrant, then you would be arrested. So it could be at any time. So that’s a warrant arrest.
The other type of arrest is without a warrant. So without a warrant, basically somebody is being arrested right there on the spot, at the scene of the crime, or very shortly thereafter. An officer can arrest somebody for a crime committed in that officer’s presence. So again, the officer sees the crime and makes the arrest.
The other is for a felony committed, already committed, based upon probable cause. So that is a probable cause arrest by that police officer. So again, there are two types of arrest, with a warrant, and without a warrant. Again, without a warrant, that person’s going to be arrested right there on the spot and they’re going to know it. The bond will be set. And with a warrant, a significant amount of time might go by. You might not even know you have a warrant out for your arrest for all that time. It may come as a surprise, and then it has to be dealt with at that time.
So if you have any more questions about arrests from an Oklahoma defense lawyer, reach out to me, at stuartericson@wagonerlawyer.com.
