My CHL will be denied!

[DWS1117]

Twelve years ago, when I was young, stupid, and drinking too much I was arrested for public intoxication. Against my wishes (felt that it was my fault and I should have to sit it out in jail) my mother bailed me out and paid all associated fines. Today I received a letter in the mail that states that there is a warrent for my arrest.

I called the attorneys that sent the letter and was told that I had to contact the court. Called the court. I was told that they can't pull the file until Monday because court is in session. They were able to tell me that there is indeed a warrant that has been issued for the charges of June 12, 1993.

My mother doesn't keep much in the way of records. Especially not for this long. She told me the same thing that I remember. We were told that all was paid.

I have been through numerous background checks in the last 5 years. I applied to Harris County for a reserve deputy position. I made it to last phase of the hiring process before I pulled my application for personal reasons. Been through background checks for job applications with Montgomery County Sheriff's Dept. and DPS. This has never come up.

I am a little pi**ed!

Now I know why my CHL app is taking so long and I am certain that this will be cause for a denial!! Guess I should have waited to buy a gun and holster.

Does anyone have any advice for how I can clear this since I don't have any record of payment? I do have th option of paying $175 and it will be cleared.

Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations? I know, wishful thinking.

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[RKCheung]

Could be serious business. I'd recommend getting a lawyer.

 

[Chipperman]

All I can say is, Good Luck!
Hope it all works out in the end for you.

 

[MLH]

If she paid by check

There might be a record at the bank. Don't know if they keep them that long but you might check it out.! Good luck!

 

[md2lgyk]

Does the letter say what the warrant is for? I'm guessing since it never came up during the background checks that it's some sort of mistake. And no, there's no statute of limitations on warrants.

 

[dolanp]

At worst public intoxication is a Class C misdemeanor so it shouldn't be grounds to deny you unless you failed to disclose that you had been arrested back in 1993.

 

[RavenVT100]

Um, if you can get it cleared by paying $175 then just pay it. That's less than one day's worth of lawyering!

 

[DWS1117]

Nope didn't fail to disclose that information.

No the letter doesn't say what the warrant is for. Heck I haven't even been pulled over in 10 years.

 

[AirForceShooter]

if it was more than 7 years since you paid it the bank won't have a record

AFS

 

[DWS1117]

Um, if you can get it cleared by paying $175 then just pay it. That's less than one day's worth of lawyering!

I shoudn't have to pay a fine that has already been paid.

When I applied to the Harris County Sheriff's Dept. I had gone to this court and gotten written record that this had been paid . Unfortunately all this had been turned over to the sheriff's dept and I was too stupid to make a copy.

Now I know whay my wife keeps records of everything. She is 33 and has records of everything she has ever paid.

 

[Double Maduro]

"When I applied to the Harris County Sheriff's Dept. I had gone to this court and gotten written record that this had been paid . Unfortunately all this had been turned over to the sheriff's dept and I was too stupid to make a copy."


No problem, go to the court and get another copy. Do it today, before the records get lost.

I will also bet the Sheriff's office still has a copy.

DM

 

[spacemanspiff]

dang it took them 12 years to get a bench warrant issued???

its probably just a paperwork snafu. even still, i have made sure i have all my court documents from 8 years back. you cant be too careful.
good luck!

 

[DWS1117]

No problem, go to the court and get another copy. Do it today, before the records get lost.

I wish it were that easy. The court is who is who issued the warrant. It seems plain that the records are already lost.

 

[Edmond]

Geez, I hope they don't deny a CHL to you because of a misdemeanor that happened 12 years ago!

 

[patent]

I wish it were that easy. The court is who is who issued the warrant. It seems plain that the records are already lost.​

Don't assume that. Records sometimes are kept in funny ways. Worse, if they called one person at the Court to check your record for the CHL, that person may not know where to look for the payment thing, whereas the person who issuesthe written records of payment may know where it is.

As a general rule, never assume competance by filing clerks. Even if they are competent, when you file 10,000 things a day (or look up 10,000 things) its easy to make a mistake. That mistake is much more fixable when a live body stands in front of you and (in a friendly fashion) asks for help.

Maybe it is truly lost, but you won't know until you check. They may even have a record of issuing you the document they issued for your Sherrif's app.

patent

 

[Double Maduro]

Patent,

You beat me to it.

DM

 

[shermacman]

I had a warrant for arrest issued to me for not paying a moving violation that happened 23 years ago. The Criminal Court said I had not paid the violation. The Traffic Court said I did. It was going to take two weeks to resolve and my Driver's License was going to expire that same week. I paid (re-paid!) the fine. The problem went away.

If you get stopped and that warrant comes down on your head, the $175 dollars that you are worried about will be chump change. Make it go away! Don't stand on principle over that much money involving a drunken binge that will so adversely affect you!

 

[patentmike]

I'd go to the court in person and have them pull the file. There are all kinds of interesting possibilities like: they don't know what the warrant is for either; it was supposed to be for somebody else. Of course, they might even want to arrest you on the spot (bring money).

Be polite but immovable. Any excuse like "I'll have to..." , "I can't..." can usually taken care of with, "I'll wait", or "I'll wait for your supervisior".

 

[Standing Wolf]

Heck I haven't even been pulled over in 10 years.

That's no way to drive!

 

[George S.]

Wait till Monday and call the Court. Find out all you can before you go down there to straighten the paperwork out. If you go into the court and say you are there because you got a letter in the mail that said there was a bench warrant out for you, you could very well sit behind bars while they figure out the paper trail.

It might be worth a few buck to contact a lawyer and ask what you can do to solve the problem without risking being taken into custody (again).

 

[Jeff Timm]

Humm.. "I called the attorneys that sent the letter and was told that I had to contact the court. Called the court. I was told that they can't pull the file until Monday because court is in session. They were able to tell me that there is indeed a warrant that has been issued for the charges of June 12, 1993."

This seems very, very strange. Why are strange attorneys sending you notice of a warrant for your arrest?

Geoff
Who has a thing about Lawyers...99.9999 percent of them, give the other one a bad name.

 

[Vernal45]

Contact a Lawyer, pay the fine (again if you have to). Then trace the paper trail, and sue to get your money back for paying twice on the same thing. If you dont, and you get pulled over (you have not been pulled over in 10 years, your time is coming) you will sit in jail, have to post bond. All of that will add up to more than $175..

 

[rust collector]

There's a good chance your CHL app caused the warrant to surface. You'll want to get it cleared up ASAP, and the advice to review the entire file is good. Sometimes numbers get transposed, receipts mislaid, etc. Check the dates, look for evidence of payment, and if there is no record of payment you may have to pay. It would be easy to wrap more into this than it's worth. An explanatory note to your CHL issuer may help that process also.

 

[kayak bum]

Chances are it is a failure to appear or a failure to pay. Call ahead and find out what the "bail", ie the unpaid fine, is and have that amount of cash with you when you go. Someone probably mis-filed, but the chances of getting that straight this many years later are not good.
Also check w/ DMV and make sure your license hasn't been suspended as a result....

 

[cxm]

Do Not!!!

Do not go to the court or sheriff's office in person... unless you happen to like orange jumpsuits. There is an excellent chance they will lock you up until things get sorted out... you probably will have to post bond and depending on the the mood everyone is in you may get an arraignment the same day... you may not either... if you don't guess where you get to wait....

OTOH, they may just let you post bond until things are sorted out... or they may not...

Spend a few bucks on a lawyer... if you need the name of a good one in Houston send me a private mail.

A lawyer can tell you how to get things fixed... without being fitted for an orange jumpsuit.

FWIW

Chuck