I got an OVI in Ohio in 2007. It was my third offense and I had 180 days on the self from the 2nd OVI. I missed my first court date and then...

Question

I got an OVI in Ohio in 2007. It was my third offense and I had 180 days on the self from the 2nd OVI. I missed my first court date and then out of fear I just never rescheduled. I want to clear this from my and I don't know how to go about fixing this and what I should expect from a judge. I have been in no trouble since, moved, returned to school, and have become a very respected member of my community.

Answer

In Ohio, if you miss a court date in a criminal case like a drunk driving matter, the Court will put out a bench warrant for your arrest. Though the police may not be actively looking for you, you will be in the LEADS system and if the police come into contact with you in a way in which they would need to check your background, they would see that you have a warrant and take you in to custody. It is difficult to say how long you can avoid such an event. I had a client once who had been on the run from a DUI charge for 22 years. She was sitting in the passenger seat of someone else's car in a grocery store parking lot when someone else backed into the car. The police checked her ID and found the warrant and arrested her and brought her back before the Court she ran from.

If you are outside of the state of Ohio they can extradite you once they take you into custody. There is no way to tell how much time you will be facing if you return to the jurisdiction in which you were charged. Every judge handles situations differently and some judges uniformly give you all the time you have on the shelf while others only give you a portion of it. I can say that if you return voluntarily, you would be in a better situation than if you return under compulsion because you got caught.

If you do get a lot of time, some jurisdictions also have work release programs and home arrest programs. Further, there are many rural jails in which it is a lot easier to serve time than in crowded urban jails.

Obviously you can also control the timing of your turn in. If you come to a point in your career that you can take six months or so off (college professors get sabbaticals or there might be some temporary lay offs where you work or if you are a student then you should figure out a summer break that you will be taking off anyway) then you would be wise to figure in this aspect of it as well.

You will also want to build up enough money so that you can pre-pay your rent and/or mortgage for the time you are gone and take care of other bills. You will also need enough money to hire a top dui attorney in the area in which you will return. There is nothing like local counsel for predicting what a judge will do.