I have a capias warrant for $522.60 in the city of houston, how long will i be in jail if I turn myself in?

Question

And let me add that this is for traffic tickets only.

Answer 1

Ok- I don't mean to correct JohnR; however, his information is incorrect.

In the state of Texas, Capias (Pro Fine) means that the warrant must be served if an officer comes into contact with you and runs the warrant. To put it simply, if for any reason you are stopped or ran and the officer finds the Capias warrant you will be arrested. Just because you have a warrant doesn't always mean the officer has to arrest; however, by labeling it Capias they do. It has nothing to do with being a minor. In fact in the state of TX you cannot issue a Capias warrant if you are under the age of 17.

      "Art. 45.045. [918] [1013] [978] CAPIAS PRO FINE.  (a) If the

defendant is not in custody when the judgment is rendered or if the

defendant fails to satisfy the judgment according to its terms, the

court may order a capias pro fine issued for the defendant's arrest.  

The capias pro fine shall state the amount of the judgment and

sentence, and command the appropriate peace officer to bring the

defendant before the court or place the defendant in jail until the

defendant can be brought before the court.

(b)  A capias pro fine may not be issued for an individual

convicted for an offense committed before the individual's 17th

birthday."

Ok, now on to the being arrested. The only police officers that would know you have a Capias warrant would be either HPD or any other PD/SO that checks HPD warrants. More than likely Harris County SO checks them as well as DPS for that area. The only way any other agency that is not local would be able to access that knowledge would be if your warrant was entered into the TCIC/NCIC system. State and National computer data base that all law enforcement agencies enter info into. (TCIC is TX exclusive other states have the same just different names) Only Class B offenses and higher are entered into TCIC. If your offenses are traffic that would make them Class C and therefore not entered into TCIC.

As far as how long you would have to sit it out... depends on how much "you make" each day sitting in jail. Since it is capias you have to be presented before a judge. I would take JohnB's advice on this. Go early. The earlier you go and the closer to Monday the sooner you can see the judge.

Good Luck and I wouldn't recommend letting warrants go this long in the future.

Answer 2

--- A Capias is a warrant for an underage person so you must be a minor or were one when you got the citations. If they are for traffic only then you will likely only have to pay that amount in fines and warrant fees.

--- Look up the number for the Clerk of Courts in the county the Capias was issued and call them and ask if you can simply come in and pay off the money or if you have to appear before the judge and if the Capias is a body only warrant or can you post the $522 as bond.

--- If its a "body only" Capias then you will be required to stay in custody until you see the judge so you might want to turn yourself in on a Monday morning at about 0700 hrs ( 7am ) so they have plenty of time to get your case file up to the judge so he can see you that same day. Believe me, you don't want to stay in jail over night if you don't have to.

--- In my state minors must appear and talk to the judge on all charges, traffic or criminal. In any case the $522.60 is likely to be your bond amount to guarantee you will show up to see the judge if you can post bond.

--- Once in front of the judge he can pretty much do as he wishes with minors. If you have an attitude problem he can stick you in detention or if this is your first trouble he could make you pay a portion of it and work the rest off in community service. Its up to the judge so be smart and kiss his royal @$$.