Court has no records

[wolves94]

I was cited in the middle of December of 2011. My initial appearance in court was Jan 3rd. I filed a motion to move my court date to late January of 2012. I have yet to hear from the court. I since have gone to the court to be fingerprinted, yet they have no information on my court date. I have given the court clerks the complaint number on the citation and nothing comes up in their system. All I hear from them is that the officer has yet to file the report. It has been over a month, is this common? What other explanations can there be?

[Samuel]

I was cited in the middle of December of 2011. My initial appearance in court was Jan 3rd. I filed a motion to move my court date to late January of 2012. I have yet to hear from the court. I since have gone to the court to be fingerprinted, yet they have no information on my court date. I have given the court clerks the complaint number on the citation and nothing comes up in their system. All I hear from them is that the officer has yet to file the report. It has been over a month, is this common? What other explanations can there be?

Could be anything. It depends. YMMV.

For us, our court dates are normally 2 months from cite date. If I were you, I would keep track of every time I went to court or otherwise contacted someone from the court, dates/times, their names, the the results (or lack of) to show that I was trying everything I could to be responsible on my end...

[Jim1348]

Well, is there anything at all that could be contributing to the confusion? For example, when you check with the court, are you providing them with a citation number or complaint number, as you posted, or are they the same thing? Have you tried giving them your name over the telephone? Is the address on what ever identification that you provided still current or has it changed? Is there anything about your name or date of birth that could be confusing? I used to work a lot of warrants and sometimes I would have conversation with the people that I arrested. Granted, some new complaint warrants were brand new charges, but many were people that didn't appear for additional court dates, complete probation, complete restitution, etc. During further conversation, it was sometimes easy to see what happened. Sometimes people lived in an apartment complex or trailer court, but didn't bother to list the apartment number or lot number. Or it sometimes didn't make it into the court file for other reasons. Sometimes it can be a cultural name issue. For example, a Mr. Lopez-Hernandez may be listed under Lopez or Hernandez, depending on how the information was entered. I could go on and on.

In your case, going by what you have posted so far, you received a citation. Look at the citation carefully. Is everything completely and accurate? Has anything changed? You said your initial appearance in court was Jan 3rd. I assume that means you did not appear. What happened on Jan 3rd.? Can the clerk check and see if your citation was on the calendar that day? I wouldn't mind knowing a few more details on this. Is this a traffic offense? Is it a criminal citation? If it is a drunk driving charge, the results of a breath test are known right away. If it is a blood or urine test, it can take a while for the results to come back. Say it was a criminal citation, there might be other reasons that the officer has not completed the report.

We often talk about the Criminal Justice System. System, however, implies that the components work together. Often times it is much more of a Criminal Injustice Non-System. If it were me, I would contact the agency that issued the citation. There is really nothing more that you can find out from the court at this point, since they don't have a charging document. Anything is possible, a citation could have been mis-filed with another file folder, the officer could have gotten sick and hasn't returned to work. etc.

Whatever you do, don't just blow it off and forget about it. Again, that is how warrants come about. You might move next month assuming that ALL of your mail will be forwarded. (Not all mail is forwarded, by the way.) Then, a year later, you get stopped on a traffic stop and surprise. Anyway, feel free to post whatever additional details you feel comfortable with and we can see if we can help. Knowing the city/county/state can even be helpful.

[ChesCopPodz]

Sometimes a ticket has a mistake and gets sent back to the officer to fix. It's not a good thing, but I've known officers who haven't been able to get ahold of the violator, and the just dismiss the ticket.

You should call the police department itself, since the court can't tell you any details about a ticket that never made it to them.

[wolves94]

No confusion about my name or address or DOB. I have a complaint number that the courts request or just my name yet nothing comes up. My initial ct appearance was Jan 3. I filed a motion to have the date moved to later in January. I have yet to recieve a response. I didn't see a judge, according to the ticket if i miss my court date then a warrant for my arrest would be issued. Yet, i have confirmed with the courts that there is no warrant out for my arrest. It is a criminal citation in within issued by the Mesa Police Department in AZ. County is Maricopa. The charge is misdemeanor assault that falls under the juristiction of the city not the county.

Could the officer have forgot to file? Could the city prosecutor just dismissed it? What is the process of charging a person with a citation? A complaint is filed by an individual, officer investigates, I was charged with assault due to probable cause. I was given the ticket. Where does the ticket/complaint go to after I signed it.

Well, is there anything at all that could be contributing to the confusion? For example, when you check with the court, are you providing them with a citation number or complaint number, as you posted, or are they the same thing? Have you tried giving them your name over the telephone? Is the address on what ever identification that you provided still current or has it changed? Is there anything about your name or date of birth that could be confusing? I used to work a lot of warrants and sometimes I would have conversation with the people that I arrested. Granted, some new complaint warrants were brand new charges, but many were people that didn't appear for additional court dates, complete probation, complete restitution, etc. During further conversation, it was sometimes easy to see what happened. Sometimes people lived in an apartment complex or trailer court, but didn't bother to list the apartment number or lot number. Or it sometimes didn't make it into the court file for other reasons. Sometimes it can be a cultural name issue. For example, a Mr. Lopez-Hernandez may be listed under Lopez or Hernandez, depending on how the information was entered. I could go on and on.

In your case, going by what you have posted so far, you received a citation. Look at the citation carefully. Is everything completely and accurate? Has anything changed? You said your initial appearance in court was Jan 3rd. I assume that means you did not appear. What happened on Jan 3rd.? Can the clerk check and see if your citation was on the calendar that day? I wouldn't mind knowing a few more details on this. Is this a traffic offense? Is it a criminal citation? If it is a drunk driving charge, the results of a breath test are known right away. If it is a blood or urine test, it can take a while for the results to come back. Say it was a criminal citation, there might be other reasons that the officer has not completed the report.

We often talk about the Criminal Justice System. System, however, implies that the components work together. Often times it is much more of a Criminal Injustice Non-System. If it were me, I would contact the agency that issued the citation. There is really nothing more that you can find out from the court at this point, since they don't have a charging document. Anything is possible, a citation could have been mis-filed with another file folder, the officer could have gotten sick and hasn't returned to work. etc.

Whatever you do, don't just blow it off and forget about it. Again, that is how warrants come about. You might move next month assuming that ALL of your mail will be forwarded. (Not all mail is forwarded, by the way.) Then, a year later, you get stopped on a traffic stop and surprise. Anyway, feel free to post whatever additional details you feel comfortable with and we can see if we can help. Knowing the city/county/state can even be helpful.

[Jim1348]

.....Could the officer have forgot to file? Could the city prosecutor just dismissed it? What is the process of charging a person with a citation? A complaint is filed by an individual, officer investigates, I was charged with assault due to probable cause. I was given the ticket. Where does the ticket/complaint go to after I signed it.....

It is always possible that the officer forgot. I think it is more likely something else would be going on. You could check with the city prosecutor and see if they have anything on this yet. Issuing a citation is a means of charging. A complaint is another means of charging. There are usually multiple copies of a citation. Generally, at least on for the officer/agency, another for the defendant, another for the court, some areas may have more copies. At this point I would check with the agency that issued the citation and see what they tell you. Is it possible they are waiting for any medical records based on alleged injuries?

[wolves94]

It is always possible that the officer forgot. I think it is more likely something else would be going on. You could check with the city prosecutor and see if they have anything on this yet. Issuing a citation is a means of charging. A complaint is another means of charging. There are usually multiple copies of a citation. Generally, at least on for the officer/agency, another for the defendant, another for the court, some areas may have more copies. At this point I would check with the agency that issued the citation and see what they tell you. Is it possible they are waiting for any medical records based on alleged injuries?

No medical records!!! This incident occured in June of 2011, police were not notified, no medical attention was needed. Person filed complaint the first of December of 2011.

[mcsap]

I see Two options.

A. Ignore it and HOPE that you don't get arrested on a warrant at some point.

). Contact the officer and ask. No warrants , no suprises.


It's up to you.