Court Actions Related to Failure to Appear in Court

Existing law prohibits a court from imposing a monetary condition of release for a defendant charged with a traffic offense, petty offense, or comparable municipal offense, or a municipal offense for which there is no comparable state misdemeanor offense, with specified exceptions. The bill adds exceptions for:

A petty offense for theft, criminal mischief, or arson, or a comparable municipal offense, or a municipal offense involving threats of violence, injury, or property damage, if the defendant has previously failed to appear in court 2 or more times in the present case; and Any other petty offense, traffic offense, or a comparable municipal offense or a municipal offense for which there is no comparable state offense, if the defendant has previously failed to appear for a court proceeding 3 or more times in the present case and has another pending charge for the same offense in the same jurisdiction.

The bill applies the exceptions involving previous instances of a defendant's failure to appear for a court proceeding only when, prior to issuing a warrant for the arrest of the defendant for the previous failure to appear, the court conducted a search to determine whether the defendant was being held in a correctional facility or county jail, and at the time of the previous failure to appear, the court had certain processes in place governing failures to appear. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)