Oh well, I can't make these up...
Bonded a Texas native who was in Virginia working on the pipeline...
$5000. bond for "Warrant of Extradition" on a felony charge out of Texas... information provided and bond set by one of the local jurisdiction magistrates in my AO.
He made his 'advisement' hearing a week later... then his next hearing was set for 1/17/15.... that was the day we got hit with 9" of snow... court was closed but he went anyway.
Of course being closed, he went back to his camper (he was here working as mentioned) packed up his wife and two kids and headed back to Texas the next day... 1/18/15.
Sooooo, when his 'new date' was missed and he FTA'd... I get a show cause and a month later appeared before the judge to answer for the FTA.
Judge was very gracious, as most are when you approach the bench with respect and knowledge... gave me two weeks to figure it out.
I went to the campground, found him gone, talked to the campground manager, who informed me that the guy had told him that he figured all was done and had completed his job so he went home.... to Texas.
I'm thinking... well, Sht... I'm gonna have to go to Texas now to resolve this... so I got on the horn and got some names of Texas PI's who might be helpful on the case.
Bill Williams out of NC and Dave Martz out of Indiana provided the same name...
I will mention him here in case others may have a similar situation in Texas... Scott Doyle, licensed PI out of Houston... I'll even provide his number, which I have cleared with him... call if you need him... 281-802-4540 and you can tell him I recommended him...
Scott and I ran some data and found that contrary to the info furnished by the magistrate at the time of bonding... this guy did not, in fact, have any
felony warrants in Texas and the only charge in Virginia was for the FTA on the case I had bonded him on.
So, two DUI's in Texas and an FTA in Virginia.... ALL CLASS B MISDEMEANORS... AND NOT EXTRADITABLE... So, with no felonies, I had no authority to pick him up from another state...
"was I now going to have to eat this $5000 bond or sneak into Texas and snatch him to save me the forfeiture????" ... I might mention that I could also resolve this by possibly having him arrested and turned in, in Texas and providing my court with this info... and that might resolve my issue... however, and this is additional info pertinent to the case... he was out on bond in Texas and had FTA's on a $7000 bond and the Texas bonding company could not find him... so.... that wasn't looking like a workable plan...
Went to court yesterday to try and resolve this... I got all my ducks in a row, prepared a little speech outlining the facts that I had no authority to enter Texas and a Warrant of Extradition is really not a crime that I can act upon... it is a court preceding out of another state and as such does not really give me a reason to arrest and return.
Anyway... I stepped into the courthouse... the two deputies on the door (whom I know)... laughed and asked if I was looking forward to going to Texas... (I did not laugh).
Sat up front, courtroom was about half full... 1pm the judge walks in sits down... immediately looks at me and says...
... with a smile on his face (which made me crap in my pants, cause I just knew I was heading south)... "Mr. Marx are you here for Mr. ******... ?"
"Yes, your Honor." as I prepared to try and convince him of my plight...
"Well, I may have some good new for you."
... "Apparently, Texas does not want Mr. *****, so your bond is dismissed... and we do not need you to return him... congratulations, you prevailed in this one."... I saluted him... thanked him profusely, turned and walked out wiping my forehead... every one in the courtroom laughed as I headed for the mens room...
I called Scott and asked him what I owed him since although he had done little more than make a phone call... as I had also done... I still felt I needed to pay him something for his effort...
He said.......... "you don't owe me anything Mr. Marx"... I said "Well, Scott, I will put your name and number in my phone and I will guarantee you that if either myself or anyone I am associated with, should need a PI in Texas, you will get the call... and thank you very much."
