What Should I Do If I Have an Arrest Warrant in Albuquerque, New Mexico?

Finding out that you have a warrant for your arrest is frightening. Maybe you learned about it from a family member. Maybe a police officer told you. Maybe you looked up your case online and suddenly saw the word “warrant.”

Your first instinct may be to avoid dealing with it.

That is understandable. It is also usually the wrong move.

In many cases, a warrant can be addressed much more effectively when you deal with it quickly and voluntarily—before you are unexpectedly arrested at work, during a traffic stop, at home, or somewhere else where an arrest can create even more problems.

How Do People End Up With Warrants?

There are several different ways this happens.

One of the most common is simply missing court.

Life happens. People get dates confused. Emergencies come up. Notices get lost. Sometimes people are afraid of what is going to happen in court and put off dealing with it.

And sometimes people truly did not know that they had a court date in the first place.

When a Criminal Case Starts With a Summons

In Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, not every criminal case begins with someone being arrested.

Some misdemeanor cases begin with a summons.

A summons means that, instead of being taken into custody, a criminal case is filed and the defendant is directed to appear in court at a particular time. New Mexico’s Metropolitan Court rules actually contain a preference for issuing a summons rather than an arrest warrant unless the court determines that the interests of justice are better served by a warrant.

This can happen in domestic violence cases and many other misdemeanor cases.

Being summoned instead of arrested is obviously preferable. You remain free, continue working, take care of your children, and appear in court when required.

But there is a potential problem: What if the summons never reaches you?

The court may mail a summons to an address associated with you. People move. Mail gets lost. An old address may still be in a database. Someone else may receive the mail and never give it to you.

The result can feel extremely unfair.

You did not intentionally miss court. You may not have even known that a criminal case existed.

But if you do not appear, a warrant may nevertheless be issued.

That is one reason I occasionally meet clients who are genuinely shocked to discover that they have an outstanding warrant.

Bench Warrants for Missing Court

Another common situation involves someone who already knows about a criminal case but misses a hearing.

When that happens, the judge can issue what is commonly called a bench warrant.

A missed appearance may also cause the judge to reconsider the person’s conditions of release. What started as a relatively manageable criminal case can suddenly become much more complicated.

This is especially frustrating when the underlying case itself is not particularly strong.

I regularly see situations where someone has potentially good defenses—or even a case that may ultimately be dismissed—but nevertheless ends up facing serious practical consequences because of a warrant.

The warrant becomes its own problem.

What About a New Felony Case?

Felony cases can present a slightly different problem.

In Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, a person accused of a felony may discover that an arrest warrant has already been issued before the person has ever appeared in court.

Once that happens, there may be a frustrating period where the defense attorney is trying to address the warrant and get the case placed on the calendar for a felony first appearance. Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court conducts those initial felony appearances even though the felony case itself will ultimately proceed in District Court if it moves forward.

This can move more slowly than anyone would like.

That makes it even more important to start the process immediately.

Waiting does not make the warrant disappear.

Why Ignoring a Warrant Can Make Things Much Worse

A warrant means that law enforcement can arrest you.

And you usually do not get to choose when or where that happens.

Imagine getting arrested during an ordinary traffic stop.

Your car may be left behind or towed. That can mean towing charges, storage fees, inconvenience, or even damage.

Maybe you have your children with you.

Maybe there is nobody immediately available to take care of your pets.

Maybe you are on the way to work.

Maybe you are traveling.

Maybe you are responsible for an elderly family member.

A warrant that could potentially have been addressed in an organized way suddenly turns into a crisis.

There is another problem as well.

When someone repeatedly fails to appear or leaves a warrant unresolved for a long time, the court may begin to view that person differently. A judge who might otherwise have been comfortable allowing someone to remain in the community may become concerned about whether the person will return to court and follow court orders.

That can affect release decisions and conditions of release.

In other words, ignoring the warrant can sometimes create a problem that did not need to exist.

Can a Lawyer Get an Arrest Warrant Canceled?

Sometimes.

One of the first things I often do when representing someone with an outstanding warrant is enter an appearance in the case and determine exactly why the warrant was issued.

Then we can decide whether it makes sense to file a motion asking the judge to cancel or quash the warrant.

The motion can explain the circumstances.

Maybe the summons went to the wrong address.

Maybe the defendant never received notice.

Maybe there was an emergency.

Maybe the person immediately hired an attorney after learning about the warrant.

Maybe there is another legitimate explanation for the failure to appear.

In the right circumstances, a judge may cancel the warrant based upon the written motion.

That can be an enormous relief.

Instead of constantly worrying about being arrested, the client knows that the warrant has been canceled and that we can address the criminal case in an orderly way.

There is never a guarantee that a judge will cancel a warrant simply because an attorney asks.

In more serious cases, the judge may require the defendant to appear personally before deciding what to do.

But even in those situations, filing the motion can help get the case onto the court’s calendar so that the problem can be addressed directly.

That is far better than simply waiting to be arrested.

Taking Responsibility for the Warrant Is Not the Same as Admitting the Criminal Charge

This distinction is important.

Dealing responsibly with a warrant does not mean admitting that you committed the crime.

Those are separate issues.

You can vigorously contest the allegations against you while still demonstrating to the court that you intend to appear, comply with court orders, and handle the case responsibly.

In fact, having an attorney promptly enter the case and address the warrant often sends exactly that message:

We know about the case. We are here. We are going to deal with it.

That can be very different from the impression created when someone leaves a warrant outstanding for months.

Do Not Wait for the Police to Solve the Problem for You

One of the worst strategies is pretending the warrant does not exist.

I understand why people do it.

Nobody wants to deal with a criminal case. Nobody wants to call a lawyer and talk about the possibility of being arrested. It is easy to convince yourself that maybe nothing will happen.

But warrants have a way of appearing at very inconvenient times.

An old warrant can suddenly surface during a traffic stop or another completely unrelated encounter with police.

By that point, you have lost much of your ability to control the situation.

The better approach is almost always to deal with the warrant deliberately and as early as possible.

If You Discover a Warrant, Start Working on It Immediately

This is one of the areas of criminal defense practice that I find particularly satisfying.

Many people call me extremely anxious because they have just learned that there is a warrant for their arrest.

Often, the situation is not hopeless at all.

We can determine what happened, review the court file, enter an appearance, contact the appropriate court, file the necessary motion, and begin working toward getting the warrant addressed.

Sometimes the judge cancels it.

Sometimes we need to appear in court and ask the judge to cancel it.

Sometimes the circumstances are more complicated.

But there is almost always an advantage to getting the process started instead of waiting for the police to make the decision for you.

If you learn that you have an arrest warrant in Albuquerque or elsewhere in New Mexico, take it seriously—but do not panic.

Get information.

Get legal advice.

And get the problem moving toward a solution.

Max Pines Law handles criminal defense cases throughout Albuquerque and New Mexico, including cases involving outstanding arrest warrants, missed court appearances, misdemeanor charges, domestic violence allegations, and felony cases.

This article provides general information about New Mexico criminal cases and is not legal advice for any particular case. The procedure and available options depend upon the court, the charges, the type of warrant, and the individual circumstances.