Okaloosa County Arrest Warrants: What to Do

Your Heart drops to your feet as you discover you have a warrant for your arrest. What do you do? Most people feel a strong urge to “do something right now!” This is exactly what the government wants you to do because your emotions are how they gather additional evidence against you.

Contact a criminal defense lawyer, not the police

The government wants you to contact the police and turn yourself in… after they ask you several questions, hoping you will “explain what happened.” This is how they destroy people's cases and their lives. Most have a deep desire to explain. However, if you are the subject of a criminal investigation, explaining something to the police means you are losing and likely to end up in jail.

Instead of “explaining”, contact a Board Certified Specialist in criminal law. Let them handle the police. If you need to turn yourself in, then most defense lawyers have the sense to do a bond interview before you are arrested in order to be prepared to argue for a bail bond the next day at your first court date which is literally called First Appearance.

Speak with a lawyer, not your “friends”

If I had a dollar for every time a client started a sentence with “…but my friend said”, I would be a billionaire. Consider:

• is your friend a criminal defense lawyer who practices in Florida?

No. “My Friend Said” is never a Florida criminal defense lawyer and usually comes up with some fantasy defense from 1990. The fantasy defense didn't work then and it won't work now.

Besides: if you “friend” is a co-defendant, assume everything you say will be used against you when they testify against you.

Yes, you have to turn yourself in

Defense lawyers don't have magical powers. No, we cannot “just call up the judge and explain why you missed court” or get the warrant dismissed before it is served because “that's all lies.” There is a procedure and a process for handling arrest warrants and it starts with turning yourself in. 

Finally, another reason you hire a lawyer immediately is that there are cases where the warrant is defective for some reason. Don't get your hopes up to high, because this is very rare. However it does happen so it is best to hire a lawyer as early as you can in the process.