I'd like to get an idea about what others do in the following type of situation:

Defendant fails to appear. Warrant is issued. State's case is filed away with all the other forfeitures. Many weeks, months or years go by. Suddenly, the Defendant writes a letter from prison, telling us or the Court about our detainer and how it is affecting his rehab and good time and blah, blah, blah.

The question is: What to do with the guy's open case? Our judge has stated that when we receive such letters, we can either bring the guy back on a bench warrant for a trial, or we can dismiss the case. If we do neither, then the Court will bring the guy back for us - forcing our hand. Unfortunately, our judge has also stated that if we bench warrant these guys back just for the purpose of pleading them to a sentence less than or equal to the one he his currently serving from another jurisdiction he will not accept that plea.

For the Court, this is all about statistics, and disposing of cases that otherwise will languish.

We have tried pleas in absentia on occassion, but there are logistical problems with that. Not to mention the obvious issue of how you agree to a plea with a guy who is not represented by counsel.

I certainly don't want to reward a guy by dismissing his case only because he committed yet another crime. But, of course, there's no point in bench warranting a guy for a State Jail felony if he is already serving 30 years on an Agg. Robbery. There are many other complexities with this problem. As our office tries to determine the best plan - or guidelines - for these cases, I'd like to know what others do.

Thanks!

Well, are _you_ the one rewarding the guy or is the Judge the one rewarding the guy with the policy as explained and established?

Frankly, the judge appears to be making a decision about a plea bargain agreement prior to being presented with information regarding he case. I like to call that, "Cannon Fodder".

If the judge backs you into a corner, set the case for a plea and make the judge refuse the plea on the record. Then dismiss the case and include in your motion the refusal as the basis for the dismissal. You're not starting a war with the judge, you're simply making a record of the fight the judge started.