California Extradition Warrants

Los Angeles Extradition Warrant Defense Attorney Michael Kraut handles extraditions throughout Southern California. The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and other prosecutor's offices extradite people from other states after a warrant has been issued.

A California extradition involves people wanted for crimes across state lines. These people have been determined to be fugitives by a court. In many cases, people do not know they are considered fugitives and are arrested pursuant to a traffic ticket, or some other minor offense. At the time that the arrest, a law enforcement officer will run a criminal rap sheet and if there is an extradition warrant for the person’s arrest, then they will be taken into custody. At that time the person will be brought before a judge. The state that issued the extradition warrant will then have 21 days to pick up the person and bring them back to the home state. However the process to return a fugitive to the demanding state may take from 1-3 months.

Extradition is the court term for the process by which one state transfers a person charged with a crime to another state to face the charges if the case has not been completed. If the case was finished but the person did not complete their sentence, then they can be brought back on the same type of warrant.

There are two distinct types of extraditions. The first is if a person is arrested in California, but the crime(s) occurred in another state. In that case, the person is being held in California and the demanding state has issued the extradition warrant. The second type of extradition warrant is when California has issued a warrant for a person in another state. The fugitive is being held in another across state lines and California is known as the home state, or demanding state.

California Extradition Law is pursuant Section 50.34 of the Penal Code. California has signed onto the “Uniform Criminal Extradition Act.” Both of these laws require a person arrested in another state to be returned to California to face their criminal charges. Before a person can be extradited, there must be a hearing before a court to ensure that the warrant is valid. The court will be determining if the person in custody is in fact the person wanted in the warrant, or if the criminal charges are valid. During this time, a person will remain in custody. his process may take several weeks to sort out and the suspect will remain in imprisoned.

The California Extradition Process

A person is arrested on an extradition warrant based upon the demanding state filing a fugitive complaint against the person in custody. The court may then require the person to post significant bail or the person will be held in custody until the home state issues a Governor’s warrant. This process is very slow.

The fugitive may either deny the charges and fight extradition, or waive formal extradition and voluntarily return to the demanding state. A person may remain in custody even though they volunteered to return to face criminal charges.

If the person decides to fight extradition, and hold a probable cause hearing to determine the identity of person being held on the warrant. In those cases, the issuing state will need to present competent evidence that the person in custody is actually the same person named in the warrant. This formal process occurs between the demanding state and state that is currently holding the person in custody.

If the demanding state has proven that the person in custody is the correct person named in the warrant, then Governor of the demanding state will file a formal demand for the

Defenses to California Extradition Warrants

1. Identity is incorrect. A person may claim that they are wrongfully incarcerated because the are not the person named in the warrant.


2. Lack of Validity of the documents. A person may also challenge the extradition warrant by showing that the documents filed by the home state’s prosecutor are not valid.

Extradition Warrant Attorney Michael Kraut handles warrant cases. He has successfully negotiated a reduced sentence to allow a person to be released form custody early in the proceeding. Am experienced criminal defense attorney will be able to meet and confer with the prosecutor and may be able to convince the court to reduce bail.

If you have a loved one that has been arrested on a California extradition warrant, or if you know that there is a warrant for your arrest, then contact the California Extradition Warrant Defense Attorney Michael Kraut.