TITLE TWO — PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS
Rule 18.2. Criminal Default; Default Warrant
Entry of a Criminal Default. Where a defendant who has been summoned, arraigned, released, or otherwise ordered to appear fails to appear as required, the court may enter a criminal default upon the record, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.501(i) permits. The default shall be entered forthwith and in the proceeding in which the failure occurred.
Contents of the Order of Default. The order of default shall state the username of the defendant; the case number; the proceeding at which the defendant failed to appear and the date and time of it in Coordinated Universal Time; the fact and date of each presence warning given under Rule 18.1; whether the defendant is represented and by whom; and whether a default warrant has issued.
Default Warrant.
Issuance. Upon entering a criminal default the court may issue a warrant for the defendant’s arrest, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.501(i) permits. The warrant is a bench warrant within the meaning of Rule 2(2)(g) and issues through the warrants workflow as Rule 6(4) provides.
In-Game Entry. The court shall place the default warrant within the in-game warrants system in the form prescribed by Rule 6(1)(c), and shall do so not later than one (1) hour after the entry of the default. Rule 6(1)(d) applies, and no arrest shall be made upon a signed warrant for which no entry exists.
Notice of Default. The clerk shall, not later than one (1) hour after the entry of a criminal default, transmit to the defendant’s account of record and to counsel of record a notice of default stating the fact of the default, the issuance of any default warrant, the presence warning, and that unless the defendant appears within twenty-four (24) hours the State may move under Rule 18.3 for authorization to try the defendant in absentia. The clerk shall enter the fact and time of the transmission upon the docket.
Appearance; Recall.
Where the defendant appears, whether voluntarily or upon arrest, the court shall vacate the criminal default unless it finds cause to let it stand, and shall recall the default warrant forthwith and in no event later than one (1) hour after the appearance.
Upon recall the court shall cause the corresponding entry to be removed from the in-game warrants system, and the clerk shall enter the recall upon the docket.
The vacatur of a default does not disturb any act done while it was in force.
Tolling. During any period in which the defendant remains a fugitive from justice following the entry of a criminal default, any applicable period of limitation is tolled, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.501(i) provides. A defendant is a fugitive from justice for the purpose of this subdivision where a declaration of fugitive status has been entered under 6 R. Stat. §§ 131.502 through 131.505 and Rule 33. Where no such declaration has been entered, no period of limitation is tolled by the entry of the criminal default alone. Tolling ends upon the earliest of the defendant’s being taken into custody, the defendant’s appearance before the court, and the entry of relief from fugitive status under 6 R. Stat. § 131.506 and Rule 33(11). The court shall enter upon the docket the date and time at which the tolling began and the date and time at which it ended.
Costs. A judge may order that expenses incurred as a result of the entry of a criminal default against a defendant be assessed as costs against the defendant. No bond shall be forfeited and no money shall be collected as a condition of release or re-release; no bond or bail exists in this State. 6 R. Stat. § 131.205; Rule 7.1(1).
Preservation of Testimony. Where counsel for the defendant is present upon the entry of a default and the judge finds that to require the attendance at a later time of a witness then present would constitute a hardship upon the witness because of profession or other sufficient reason, the judge may order that the testimony of the witness be taken and preserved for subsequent use at trial or at any other proceeding. The witness shall be examined in open court by the party on whose behalf he is present and the adverse party shall have the right of cross-examination. The expense of taking and preserving the testimony may be assessed as costs against the defendant.
Relation to Fugitive Status. A criminal default and a declaration of fugitive status are distinct. A default may be entered by the court upon the record without petition; a declaration of fugitive status issues only upon the petition of the government and only upon the requirements of Rule 33. Neither is a prerequisite to the other, and either or both may be pursued. A declaration of fugitive status entered under Rule 33 is evidence, but is not conclusive, of the matters the court must find under Rule 18.3(e).