junior7247
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Texas
Can an accused be incarcerated for a Capias Pro Fine Warrant without having entered a plea?
Capias Pro Fine
- Thread Starter junior7247
- Start date
mightymoose
Moderator
A warrant commands law enforcement to take the named person into custody, so yes, if one is issued incarceration should be expected.
Tax Counsel
Well-Known Member
There is a contradiction in your question. A capias pro fine warrant in Texas is a warrant directing the officer to bring the person named in the warrant to court to answer why he has failed to comply with a judgment that he pay fines and costs in his criminal case. A fine and costs would not be imposed, of course, until after a trial in which the defendant is found guilty or the defendant has plead guilty. Moreover, under the Texas statute a capias pro fine warrant cannot be issued until the judge has held a hearing and determined that it would not cause the person an undue hardship to pay the fine and costs. The capias pro fine warrant can be cleared before the arrest of the person by going to court and paying the judgment off. See Texas Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) Art. 45.045.
So if there is a capias fine warrant, it's for nonpayment fines and costs in a case in which you were already found guilty. That would not have anything to do with charges now pending against you in some new matter for which no guilty verdict has yet been entered.
If you tell us more about what is going on then perhaps we can provide you some more useful information about what you might expect to happen here.
army judge
Super Moderator
In Texas, unequivocally NO.
There need NOT have been a plea, as a conviction amounts to the same outcome.
The majority of these cases involve back child support.
A few involve criminal cases with a very specific and similar fact pattern.
junior7247
New Member
On my initial arraignment I asked for the nature and cause of the allegations. I was denied my request. I received a continuance so that I could find legal assistance. When I returned to complete the arraignment, I filed papers with the clerk and upon entering the courtroom I was taken into custody. The bailiff said I was late but my file stamp proved other wise. I was given a court appointed after a week and an offer of time served. When I FOIA the paperwork the cause of arrest was a capias pro fine issued that morning by the judge.
junior7247
New Member
But the capias pro fine is issued after the accused failed to comply with an agreement ect. Please correct me if I am mistaken.
mightymoose
Moderator
There may very well be a mistake of fact that needs to be resolved.
I was only staying the obvious- if a warrant was issued then, yes, one may be taken into custody one the command of that warrant.
You eventually received counsel from the court appointed attorney. Did you not get an answer about all this from your attorney?
I was only staying the obvious- if a warrant was issued then, yes, one may be taken into custody one the command of that warrant.
You eventually received counsel from the court appointed attorney. Did you not get an answer about all this from your attorney?
