Two Bench Warrants Over 20 Years Old, El Monte Court

In the year 2000 and then again in 2001, our client, then 35 and 36 years old, was arrested twice by the El Monte Police Department.

In the first case, she was arrested for solicitation of prostitution (Penal Code § 647(b)) and in the second case a year later, she was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance (Health & Safety Code § 11550) and giving false information to a police officer (Penal Code § 148.9).  Each case was filed in the El Monte Courthouse.

With legal representation from the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office, she resolved each case rather quickly.  In the prostitution matter from the year 2000, she pleaded no contest and was placed on three years of summary, or informal, probation with an obligation to perform 150 hours of community service and attend an AIDS education and testing program.  She was also required to obey all laws while on probation.  She was then released from custody and placed on probation.

While on probation for the prostitution case, she was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance (a violation of Health & Safety Code § 11550) and then, after being detained by police, giving the police false information about her identity (a violation of Penal Code § 148.9).  She was then taken into custody again by the El Monte Police Department and arraigned in the El Monte Court on such charges.

The judge was advised of our client already being on probation for the prostitution case, so he revoked her probation on that case.  Our client then resolved the 11550 / 148.9 matter with the help of the public defender’s office.  She agreed to being placed on three years of informal probation and to obey all laws and pay a $100 court fine.

The client then left California and moved to Florida, where she married and had a son.  She did not show up in court for any further hearings in either case and the judge in each matter revoked her probation in both cases and issued bench warrants of $30,000 in the prostitution case and $5,000 in the 11550 / 148.9 case.  Our client further did zero community service, did not attend the AIDS Education and testing program and did not pay the $100 court fine.

Meanwhile in Florida, after her son was old enough that he did not need her at home to help her with things, our client (now 57) enrolled in a college to become a nurse.  

She invested over $20,000 in tuition and reached the point in the program where she had to work under supervision in a hospital, applying her nursing knowledge.  The nursing program, however, advised her that she was unable to do this because of two bench warrants from the El Monte Courthouse.  She was flabbergasted.  She thought they had “gone away.”

The client then called Greg Hill & Associates and discussed each case.  She explained that she desperately needed to have the bench warrant in each case recalled so she continued in her nursing program.

Greg looked up each case and called back the client as to what the court records showed in each one.

Greg stated he could appear in the El Monte Courthouse on each case, but recommended that the client give him documentation of having performed 150 hours of community service and having attended an AIDS education class and that she was tested for AIDS / HIV, as she promised to do as a condition of probation.  Greg furthermore told the client that he would ask the judge to excuse or waive the $100 court fee under People v. Dueñas (2019) 30 Cal. App. 5th 1197.

The client then took about three months to perform the 150 hours of community service, but did so and gave Greg documentation of this.  She also found and attended an AIDS education and test and gave Greg documentation of this as well.

Greg then appeared at the El Monte Courthouse to recall the bench warrants in each case.  Both cases were assigned to the same judge.  The judge kindly recalled the bench warrants in each case, reinstated our client on probation and terminated probation in each case.

This meant that the client, now age 58, was no longer on probation and was eligible to have the convictions at issue in both cases expunged under Penal Code § 1203.4.  She was very happy with this result, as it cleared the way for her to continue in her nursing program.