In movies, antiheroes elude police until the final firefight or escape across the border to Mexico. While this is all plenty exciting on the silver screen, what you want in your own criminal case is an anticlimactic ending. You may be correct that you did not do anything wrong, but defendants in criminal cases get a theoretically infinite number of chances to prove that they do not deserve punishment. The court might drop your charges or decline to prosecute you, you might get acquitted, and even if you get convicted, you can appeal your conviction or your sentence all the way until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on it. If you find out that there is an active warrant for your arrest, the Byronic hero in you might want to run, but it is better to turn yourself in.  

Remember that turning yourself in does not mean pleading guilty; you might not spend a single night in jail before or after your trial. A Tulsa criminal defense lawyer can help make the process of turning yourself in painless and, ideally, walk right out of the police station with you afterward.

What Happens if the Court Issues a Warrant for Your Arrest?

Police can only arrest you if they have a warrant or if they reasonably believe that they have just seen you commit a crime. To get an arrest warrant, they must testify before the court that their investigation has yielded enough evidence to constitute probable cause for charging you with a crime. After that, any officer who knows about the warrant can arrest you wherever they see you.  Arrest warrants do not come with an expiration date. They remain valid until the suspect gets arrested or turns himself or herself in or until the court quashes the warrant.

Turning Yourself in is Not as Scary as it Sounds

If you think you are under criminal investigation, do not wait for things to get worse; if there is a warrant out for your arrest, you should make a plan to deal with it. The first step is to find out whether there is an active warrant for your arrest. To find this out, do a warrant search through the Oklahoma State Courts Network or your local police department or sheriff’s office. Find out as much information about the warrant as you can,

Contact a criminal defense lawyer and start discussing defense strategies or plea deals. Your lawyer might be able to negotiate an affordable bail amount, so you should also contact a bail bond company. Turning yourself in does not mean surrendering; it means going to the police station with your defense lawyer and your bail money, saying very little, as the Fifth Amendment entitles you to do, and walking right back out.

Contact Tracy Tiernan About Criminal Defense Cases

A criminal defense lawyer can help you protect your rights if the police have issued a warrant for your arrest. Contact Tracy Tiernan in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to discuss your case.