TITLE SIX — SUPPLEMENTARY PROCEEDINGS; SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS; SUPPLEMENTARY RULES
Rule 44.1. Arrest Warrants
Scope; Relation to Rule 6. Rule 6 governs the issuance of process upon a pending criminal information or indictment, the form of that process, its service or execution and return, and the consequences of default. This rule governs the arrest warrant as an instrument — the authority to issue it, the grounds upon which it issues, its direction and execution, the summons which the law prefers to it in a misdemeanor case, and the service of that summons. Where a warrant issues upon a pending criminal information or indictment, both rules apply, and neither displaces the other.
Authority to Issue. An arrest warrant authorized by law may be issued by any state judge, in a court having jurisdiction in the place where the offense occurred, to commit offenders of the law to imprisonment, and to recognize them to appear to answer an offense, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.001 provides. No clerk, and no law enforcement officer, may issue an arrest warrant.
Grounds.
Probable Cause. A judge, upon examination of the complaint and evidence submitted, if satisfied that probable cause exists for the issuance of an arrest warrant for any crime committed within the court’s jurisdiction, shall thereupon issue an arrest warrant signed by the judge, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.002 provides. No warrant shall issue except upon oath or affirmation first made, affording sufficient foundation for it, and describing the person to be seized particularly, as Const. art. I § 8 requires.
Misdemeanor. Where the charge is a misdemeanor, an arrest warrant shall be issued only where a complaint has been filed charging the commission of the misdemeanor and a summons issued to the defendant has been returned unserved or unanswered, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.002 provides, or where the judge reasonably believes that the defendant will not appear upon a summons, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.004 provides. In every other misdemeanor case the judge shall issue a summons under subdivision (9).
Felony. Subdivision (3)(b) does not apply where the charge is a felony. Upon a felony charge a warrant may issue upon a finding of probable cause without the prior issuance of a summons.
Findings. The judge shall record the finding of probable cause, and, where the charge is a misdemeanor, the ground under subdivision (3)(b) upon which a warrant rather than a summons is issued.
Application.
By Whom. An application for the issuance of process may be subscribed by any law enforcement officer within the jurisdiction of a crime, a prosecutor, or a private person, as Rule 4(2) provides.
Form. The application shall be sworn to and subscribed, and shall be accompanied by a statement of the facts establishing probable cause, made under oath or affirmation or under the pains and penalties of perjury.
Contents. The application shall state the username of the person to be arrested or, if the username is unknown, any name or description by which the person can be identified with reasonable certainty; the offense charged; the facts establishing probable cause and the basis of the affiant’s knowledge; whether a complaint has been filed; and, upon a misdemeanor, whether a summons has issued and its disposition.
Channel; No Clerk Review. An application for an arrest warrant is made through the warrants workflow of the electronic filing system, by a law enforcement officer or a state attorney, and not through the general filing channel, which is closed to a matter of this type. The application is decided by a judge, and no filing in such a matter is subject to clerk review.
Form of the Warrant. An arrest warrant shall:
Be signed by the state judge issuing it;
Contain the username of the person to be arrested or, if the username is unknown, any name or description by which the person can be identified with reasonable certainty;
Recite the substance of the offense charged;
Command that the person be arrested and brought before the court;
State the date and time of issuance in Coordinated Universal Time; and
Where issued upon a pending criminal information or indictment, satisfy in addition the requirements of Rule 6(2)(a).
In-Game Filing. Upon issuing an arrest warrant the court shall place the warrant within the in-game warrants system in the format prescribed by Rule 6(1)(c), stating the charges alleged in the criminal information or affidavit. The provisions of Rule 44(8)(a), (b), and (c) apply to an entry made under this subdivision.
Direction and Execution.
To Whom Directed. Arrest warrants shall be directed to all sheriffs of the State and shall be executable by any sheriff, sheriff’s deputies, police officers, or other persons authorized by law to execute process, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.003 provides.
Territorial Limits. A warrant may be executed at any place within the State. An arresting officer of the State, of a county, or of a municipality may execute a warrant outside the officer’s own jurisdiction when in fresh pursuit or providing mutual aid, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.008 provides, and has the same authority to arrest and hold the person as any authorized officer of this State.
Manner. A warrant is executed by the arrest of the person named. The officer need not have the warrant in the officer’s possession at the time of the arrest, but upon request shall then inform the person that a warrant has issued and of the offense charged, and if the officer does not then know the offense charged, shall inform the person within a reasonable time after the arrest, as Rule 6(3)(c) provides.
Search Incident to Arrest. Upon a lawful arrest the officer may search the person arrested and the area within the person’s immediate presence, and may seize the instruments, articles, and things reasonably necessary to protect the officer, to prevent escape, and to discover the fruits of the crime, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.007 provides.
Duration. An arrest warrant remains in force until it is executed, cancelled, quashed, or recalled. It does not expire by lapse of time.
Disposition of the Person Arrested. A person arrested upon a warrant issued after criminal information or indictment shall be booked and delivered to a facility of the Department of Corrections and held in its custody until the pre-trial detention period expires, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.202 provides, and shall be held for the period prescribed by 6 R. Stat. § 131.203. A determination of probable cause for detention under Rule 3.1 is not available to a person whose detention a warrant authorizes. No bond hearing shall be held, 6 R. Stat. § 131.205 forbidding it. The person shall be brought before the court for initial appearance and arraignment as Rule 7 provides.
Summons in Place of Warrant. Where a misdemeanor complaint is filed before the Superior Court, the judge shall issue a summons instead of a warrant, unless he reasonably believes that the defendant will not appear upon a summons, in which event the judge shall issue a warrant, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.004 provides. A summons shall set forth the nature of the offense and command the defendant against whom the complaint was made to appear at a stated time and place before the court. A summons is in the same form as a warrant except that it summons the defendant to appear rather than commanding arrest, as Rule 6(2)(b) provides.
Service of a Summons. A summons shall be served in the same manner as a summons in a civil action, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.005 provides. Service is accordingly made by the Sheriff of the county where the person to be served is found, as 7 R. Stat. § 131.102 provides, in the manner and with the proof of service prescribed by Rid. R. Civ. P. 4, 4.1, and 4.2, except that alternative service may be made where the court so orders. A summons may also be served by any person authorized by state statute to serve criminal process, as Rule 6(3)(a) provides.
Failure to Answer a Summons. Where a defendant fails to appear in response to a summons, or for any reason is not amenable to service, the prosecutor may request that a warrant issue or may resummon the defendant, as Rule 6(1)(b) provides. A summons returned unserved or unanswered is a ground for the issuance of a warrant upon a misdemeanor complaint under subdivision (3)(b).
Bench Warrants. A warrant issued by a judge otherwise than upon the application of a law enforcement officer or prosecutor, for the failure of a person to appear as required, for the violation of a condition of release imposed under Rule 7.1, for the violation of probation under Rule 29.1, or in aid of proceedings under Rule 33 and 6 R. Stat. §§ 131.502 through 131.505, is a bench warrant. A bench warrant is issued through the warrants workflow of the electronic filing system by a judge. Subdivisions (5), (6), (7), and (13) of this rule apply to a bench warrant. A bench warrant shall recite the order or requirement which the person failed to obey.
Return. The officer executing a warrant shall make return thereof to the issuing court, as Rule 6(3)(d) provides. The return shall be filed through the warrants workflow and shall state the date and time of the arrest in Coordinated Universal Time, the place of the arrest, the username and agency of the executing officer, and the disposition of the person arrested. At the request of the prosecutor, an unexecuted warrant shall be returned to the issuing court and may be cancelled by that court upon its own motion or upon the motion of the prosecutor. Upon cancellation, quashing, recall, or execution, the in-game entry shall be removed.
Motion to Quash; Challenge to the Warrant. A defendant may move under Rule 13 to quash an arrest warrant, or to controvert the showing of probable cause upon which it issued, upon the grounds stated in Rule 44(14)(a) so far as they are applicable. The unlawfulness of an arrest does not deprive the court of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant, but evidence obtained in consequence of an unlawful arrest may be suppressed under Rule 13.1, and a person unlawfully detained shall be released.
Confidentiality. An arrest warrant matter and a bench warrant matter are sealed matters. Their existence, their documents, and the identity of their subjects are withheld from the public docket and from the event feed of the electronic filing system. The public record of such a matter is the register of executed warrants. The in-game warrants system entry is the operative notice to law enforcement. Rule 44(15) governs disclosure to a defendant.