QUESTION
Am I able to come back to the US after I fled the country?
Asked on Sep 05th, 2016 on Immigration - New York
More details to this question:
I was being wrongfully accused. I stopped paying bail payments and I think the people that cosigned for me stopped as well. They don't know what happened. Well, my case was dropped due to few evidence against me. I called my attorney and the lady in the office said we didn't need to speak. There was nothing else to be discussed. Could this just be what their telling me to get me to come back? I know I still need to pay bail off. I'm liable for that and if the court or police were still looking for me, wouldn't they have gone to my house or family member’s houses looking for me? If indeed my case was still open and I still had them fighting against me for something I didn't do, I had cases in the past that I did wrong and they tried saying because of those I was being accused for this one. I got in contact with my family and they said the case was dropped due to few evidence against me. Do I need to call the main courthouse where my courts were held even though they were held out of the city where the crime was said to be placed? Did all this get dropped because I left and it's a different jurisdiction? If I come or try to come back to the US, will I be arrested and also will I be arrested for not finishing my bail? I just thought it was strange that I was not able to talk to my attorney at all even though I was told nothing was left to be discussed a clarification would have been nice.
1 ANSWER
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Your attorney can (and has to, if you ask) request from the court a document called Certificate of Disposition. If the case against you were dropped, the certificate will say so. If the case is still active, the court will not issue a certificate of disposition. You can also go on-line to the web site of the court where your case was prosecuted. Do a search of the cases under your name, and you should see all the information you need. You can also look at the site of the sheriff of the county where you were prosecuted and do a search for arrest warrants: if the case against you continues, there should be an arrest warrant against you in the local, state, and federal databases (all of them can be accessed directly and for free, so do not take the baits of Intellius or any other "public records search services" that try to sell you the same information) There is no such thing as "finishing bail". If you case was dropped, the bail was cancelled, and you should not have any obligations under it. If the case was not dropped, it is most likely that your bail was forfeited and a warrant for your arrest was issued and remains outstanding (in which case the bill from the bail bondsman is the least of your problems) Your attorney should explain all this to you and make the necessary inquiries for you. Try calling his office again and asking (very politely, pretty please!) for the help you need.
Answered on Sep 29th, 2016 at 11:08 AM