Avoid a Warrant for your Arrest being issued for a Traffic Citation
(Public Service Announcement)
By: Maverick County Justice of the Peace of Precinct 3-AB David Castaneda
Allow me to use your medium to inform the public of actions that are being taken by the Justice Courts throughout the State of Texas.
When a Traffic Citation/Ticket is issued by an officer and the violator signs the Citation/Ticket he/she is promising to appear before the noted Justice Court, date, and time to address the citation/ticket. If you will note that above the Signature line it clearly states: “I hereby promise to appear at the time and place designated in this notice.”
When the Justice Court receives the citation/ticket it is entered into record and a Docket (case record) is opened. The State of Texas obligates the Justice Court to remedy (close) the Docket to keep the Justice Court within State requirements.
If the violator fails to appear, within the noted time, the Justice Court will send out a “courtesy letter” reminding the violator that he/she has a pending case and informed that he/she has 10 days, from the date of the letter, to appear in Justice Court or a Warrant of Arrest will be issued. Please note that it is no excuse if you do not receive the letter because you now reside at a different address than the one on your Driver’s License. By law you are required to report a change of address to the Department of Public Safety. The Warrant of Arrest will be for the offense of “Violate A Written Promise To Appear” in violation of Texas Transportation Code, Section 543.009. Eventually the person will be arrested and taken before the issuing Justice Court or placed in a detention facility until that person is released by making bail.
What does this mean? Let’s look at it in a monetary manner. If the initial traffic citation is for a No Driver’s License, the total fine is $157.50. However, if the violator fails to appear at Justice Court, a second charge of “Violate Written Promise to Appear” is issued along with a Warrant of Arrest. The fine for the “Violate Written Promise To Appear” is $250.00 plus $50.00 fee for the warrant of arrest. So by failing to appear to address the initial traffic violation of a $157.50 fine you now have a total of $457.50 fine, plus you the cost of the bail in order to be released if detained.
The Justice Courts have already commenced to issue warrants of arrest for those that failed to heed the courtesy letters. In the very near future those violators will also be entered into a Failure to Appear/Pay program in the Department of Public Safety which means that person will be unable to renew his driver’s license until all fines are paid.
So how do you avoid a warrant of arrest due to violate written promise to appear? Present yourself before the Justice Court and tend to the citation within the noted time and date on the citation!
David J. Castaneda
Public Servant
