A warrant out for my arrest!?!?!

[Belok]

A bit more than a year ago, my gf and I decide to take a roadie.

We drove for a couple hours, parked by the river, and like complete morons, fell asleep in the car with her glass piece sitting in the cup holder.

We wake up around 3am to the *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* of some hick-ass local cop on our window.

The second I roll the window down, he reaches in, pulls out the bowl, decides its fresh, and activates "douchebag cop" mode.

After a few threats to "call in the dogs" "haul us both off to jail" etc etc, we decide to just give him the sack of weed. Maybe it was a mistake to give it up, but with these hick cops, sometimes hiding behind your rights can just piss them off even more.

I hand him the stemmiest, seediest, ugliest sack you've ever seen. There couldnt have been more than 1/2 a gram left either.

After another 5min lecture/ego stroke session, he decides that "there's probably less than an ounce in this bag" (o rly?) and he's just going to write me a ticket for possession.

In the end, I was given a ticket for possession, and my gf was given one for paraphenalia.



In the following weeks, my gf received her letter with a court date on it, but I never did. I decided to go with her to see if I was on the list for that day - I wasnt. Gf got off with a fine or something minor...but my ticket was still unresolved.

I went to the clerks office to see if anything had been turned in with my name on it, or if they had a court date scheduled, or anything. Explained my whole situation to them, etc - They could not find my name anywhere in their records. They even mentioned that it could be a misdemeanor for the officer that gave us the ticket if he didn't turn it in. (My gf was there to witness this exchange)

I didnt feel like I was completely out of the clear until a few months later when my license expired. But even then, after going to the BMV, they had no record of the occurance and reissued my license with no resistence.


There was never a single letter sent to my house about a court date, missing a court date, any warrants for my arrest, anything. I havent received 1 piece of paper about this encounter aside from the one ticket I was given >1yr ago.

I just learned about it today. The police had to come out to my Dad's house (long unrelated story), and they told him "Do you know that you have a warrant out for your arrest?". He had them doublecheck their computer, and it was actually me.



The point of this thread is to get some advice from people who may have been in a similar situation before. I'm afraid to even go down to the court house, in fear that they'd just lock me up the second I show up.

Do I need a lawyer? What possible punishment could I be facing? What is the next step I should take? Has anybody else experienced a situation like this before??


Thanks all


Cliff notes: Ticket for possession. Never received court date. Clerk said I had no record/nothing turned in. 1 year later I randomly find out there is a warrant for my arrest.



***edit***

Also, aside from a couple speeding tickets, my record is squeaky clean. Hopefully this should help my case...