How Can I Take Care of An Outstanding Maryland Arrest Warrant? Can I Make It Go Away?

If you discover a Maryland court has issued a warrant for your arrest, actually you have two problems you are facing. Obviously, a warrant has been issued that would command a law enforcement officer to take you into custody at any time. Secondly, you typically have the underlying criminal or traffic charge to address. I am  Attorney Eric T. Kirk frequently asked what someone needs to “take care of” the situation, or “make it go away.

A criminal defense attorney may file on your behalf of motion to quash or recall an outstanding arrest warrant.

There is typically no method available to simply make a Maryland arrest warrant “go away.” The answer is you have to address both the warrant, and the underlying charge at the same time. Obviously, everyone is under an obligation to obey the orders of the courts of this state. If you learn of an arrest warrant, the proper course it to contact the authorities and find out what is required of you.

There are generally three situations in which an individual might have an outstanding warrant in Maryland:

• A judicial officer could have reviewed affidavits and other evidence and determined probable cause exists that you had committed a crime and issue a warrant so that you will be taken into custody to address those allegations. There may or may not be bond
• A corrections officer might have filed a petition alleging that you violated the terms of your probation [or potentially parole]. Typically, there is no bond.
• You might have failed to appear for a criminal or traffic court hearing after receiving proper notice. There may or may not be bond.

If a cash or other conditions of bond have been set in the warrant it is always possible to turn oneself in and bond out. As noted this typically only solves half of the problem as the underlying criminal charge or traffic charge must be dealt with. In this regard it should be noted that most if not all violation of probation warrants have a no bond status and indeed many initial initiating arrest warrants carry a no bond status as well.

In an appropriate circumstance, a criminal defense attorney may file on your behalf of motion to quash or recall an outstanding arrest warrant. I say criminal defense attorney can file for you, because in my experience, a judge is more likely to grant such a request when there is a lawyer involved. This, I Attorney Eric T. Kirk believe, reflects some indicia that the individual facing charges plans to defend and attend future court appearances. Thus a request to quash or recall a Maryland arrest warrant has the highest probability of success where there is or has been a failure to appear and there is also a valid excuse or convincing evidence of a lack of proper notice.