Fugitive Warrant

A fugitive warrant is issued when a foreign jurisdiction is seeking an individual because that person is believed to have committed a crime. However, a fugitive warrant is only issued if that individual is believed to have fled the original jurisdiction. In order to better understand how fugitive warrants work it may be best to examine the first case that dealt with American fugitive warrants before the United States Supreme Court.

The case was Appleyard vs. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This case marks the first time the issue of the Constitutionality of United States Fugitive warrants was taken up by the Supreme Court of the United States of America. The defendant, Arthur Appleyard, was successfully indicted by authorities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on a charge of grand larceny. However, Mr. Appleyuard was not arrested by Massachusetts police officers because before the police could arrest Mr. Appleyard he fled to the State of New York. Unfortunately for Mr. Appleyard, although he was successful in fleeing Massachusetts’ jurisdiction he was still eventually taken into custody due to the fact that the district attorney of Erie County, New York asked the governor of New York that Appleyard be arrested on a warrant specifically designed for those who are fugitives from justice. The request for this “fugitive warrant” received eventual approval. After that, Mr. Appleyard was arrested in the State of New York.

During the course of the case, Mr. Appleyard and his attorney took the matter all the way to the American Supreme Court where the court ruled that the issuance of such a warrant was legal. Although later defendants would challenge the legality of such warrants, the underlying reality is that such warrants are Constitutional.

In an ever globalizing world, those with American warrants are finding that it is increasingly difficult to “run away from” their problems. This is largely due to the fact that more and more countries around the world are sharing their criminal databases in an effort to provide increased security for all. As a practical matter, this means that those with any type of pending warrant be it an arrest warrant, bench warrant, fugitive warrant, or a criminal warrant for failure to pay child support should deal with the matter in an upfront manner so as to diffuse as much negative impact as possible.

For those interested in learning more about US Criminal matters please contact White & Hart Ltd. White & Hart is a law office in Bangkok, Thailand that specializes in both United States Immigration and Criminal defense.